International Society for Industrial Process Tomography

Investigation of the Gas-Liquid Flow Inside a Cyclonic Flow Distribution System using Wire-Mesh Sensors

César Yutaka Ofuchi^1,2*, Eduardo N. dos Santos^1,2, Eduardo Henrique Eidt^1,3, Carolina Cimarelli^1,3, Paulo Henrique Santos^1,3, Marco José da Silva^1,2, Flávio Neves Jr.^1,2, Rigoberto E. M. Morales^1,3

¹ Multiphase Flow Research Center (NUEM)

Federal University of Technology - Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil

² Graduate School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (CPGEI)

³ Graduate School of Mechanical Engineering and Materials (PPGEM)

^*Email: ofuchi@utfpr.edu.br

ABSTRACT

Offshore deep-water oil production can be enhanced by using seabed gravitational phase separator devices.However, those devices require larger dimensions which makes difficult the construction and installation at offshore environments. A feasible solution to enable the use of those devices in the offshore subsea context is to evenly distribute the flow to smaller vessels with equivalent volume. In this context, a novel cyclonic distribution system with four outlets is evaluated using wire-mesh tomographic sensors. Tests were performed in a 7-meter, 1-inch, acrylic pipeline, with water and air. Slug flow pattern was generated and observed using the wire-mesh sensor. The findings provide qualitative information about the phenomena along the flow distribution system and indicate a good efficiency of the device.

Keywords wire-mesh sensor, two-phase flow, flow distribution, subsea phase separator

Specific Industry Sector Oil and gas