Modeling aspects of oil–water core–annular flows

Applying CFD in the Analysis of Heavy-Oil Transportation in Curved Pipes Using Core-Flow Technique

“…Vanegas [16] verified a reduction in pressure drop up to 93 times as compared to the singlephase oil flow, thus, a correlation was developed to predict the pressure drop in the flows. Similar results was reported by Bannwart [17].…”

Interfacial Energy During the Emulsification of Water-in-Heavy Crude Oil Emulsions

“…During the production and processing of crude oil, the presence of water is very common because water is naturally present in the oil reservoir, caused by the oil recovery method (e.g., water injection in the reservoir) (Fan et al, 2009) and/or from water injection in the production pipeline for friction reduction purposes (Bannwart, 2001). The turbulent shear associated with fluid flow within a pump, gas lift system and pipeline flow may cause the formation of water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions (Bhardwaj and Hartland, 1994;Peña et al, 2005).…”

Applying CFD in the analysis of heavy oil - water two-phase flow in joints by using core annular flow technique

“…This technique basically consists of injecting small amounts of water causing the heavy oil to be enveloped by a layer of water and then heavy oil flows in the central region of the pipe without touching the inner wall of the pipe forming an oil core, thus providing an annular pattern. One disadvantage when using this technique occurs when the oil comes in contact with the inner wall of the pipeline during transport, as this can cause a big increase in system pressure and may cause serious damage to the transportation system, as well as serious environmental damage [2].…”

“…This fact is due to reduction of pressure drop during the flow of water-oil type core-annular when compared with that which has to carry only the oil [3]. The Core Annular Flow technique does not modify the oil viscosity, but transforms the flow pattern and reduces friction during the flow [2,[4][5][6][7][8][9].…”