Erosion caused by fine solid particles presents one of the greatest threats to oil and gas flow assurance, consequently affecting material selection and wall-thickness design. The authors of this paper conclude that the erosional effect caused by microsized particles is dependent on the flow patterns in the pipe, determined by superficial velocities of each phase. The results of the proposed modeling using multiphase computational fluid dynamics (MCFD) are expected to benefit erosion-impact assessment in multiphase hydrocarbon-production and -piping systems.
Introduction
Understanding the effect of key parameters that regulate erosion mechanisms is essential. Studies addressing these issues have concluded that particles rebound and that the erosion profile is dependent on particle motion inside oilfield conduits.
