Application of the Fourier Transform to Improve the Accuracy of Gamma-Based Volume Percentage Detection System Independent of Scale Thickness

Abstract

With the passage of time, scale gradually forms inside the oil pipeline. The produced scale, which has a high density, strongly attenuates photons, which lowers the measurement accuracy of three-phase flow meters based on gamma radiation. It is worth mentioning that the need for multiphase flow metering arises when it is necessary or desirable to meter well stream(s) upstream of inlet separation and/or commingling. In this investigation, a novel technique based on artificial intelligence is presented to overcome the issue mentioned earlier. Initially, a detection system was comprised of two NaI detectors and a dual-energy gamma source (241 Am and 133 Ba radioisotopes) using Monte Carlo N particle (MCNP) code. A stratified flow regime with varying volume percentages of oil, water, and gas was modeled inside a pipe that included a scale layer with varying thicknesses. Two detectors record the attenuated photons that could travel through the pipe. Four characteristics with the names of the amplitude of the first and second dominant signal frequencies were extracted from the received signals by both detectors. The aforementioned obtained characteristics were used to train two Radial Basis Function (RBF) neural networks to forecast the volumetric percentages of each component. The RMSE value of the gas and oil prediction neural networks are equal to 0.27 and 0.29, respectively. By measuring two phases of fluids in the pipe, the volume of the third phase can be calculated by subtracting the volume of two phases from the total volume of the pipe. Extraction and introduction of suitable characteristics to determine the volume percentages, reducing the computational burden of the detection system, considering the scale value thickness the pipe, and increasing the accuracy in determining the volume percentages of oil pipes are some of the advantages of the current research, which has increased the usability of the proposed system as a reliable measuring system in the oil and petrochemical industry.