Numerical Simulation of New Axial Flow Gas-Liquid Separator

Abstract

At present, most of the incoming liquids from the oilfield combined stations are not preseparated for natural gas, which makes the subsequent process of oil-water separation less effective. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out gas-liquid separation. A new type of axial flow gas-liquid separator was proposed in this paper. The numerical simulation was carried out by CFD FLUENT software, and the changes of concentration field, velocity field and pressure field in the axial flow gas-liquid separator were analyzed. It was found that there were gas-liquid separation developments and stabilization segments in the inner cylinder of the separator. The axial velocity will form a zero-speed envelope in the inner cylinder, and the direction of the velocity in front of and behind the zero-speed envelope was opposite. The tangential velocity showed a “W” shape distribution in the radial position of the inner cylinder. The pressure on the left wall of the guide vane was higher than that on the right side. Therefore, the left wall was more likely to be damaged than the right wall.