Experimental investigation and numerical simulation of two-phase flow in a large-diameter horizontal flow line vertical riser

As oil and gas field development moves further into deep seas, maximizing hydrocarbon extraction at an acceptable cost is one of the greatest challenges facing the industry today. In this regard, considerable attention has been given to understanding the flow behavior in long and deep flow line risers of different topologies through transient multiphase simulation. However, the application of the large diameter to the above scenario is still an unresolved issue creating a great deal of uncertainty. This is mainly due to the limitation of the available experimental and field data being confined to much smaller diameters. In view of the aforementioned, an experimental campaign to investigate the flow behavior in a 254-mm nominal-diameter horizontal flow line vertical riser has been performed. A numerical model to study the dynamic behavior of the large-diameter horizontal flow line vertical riser system is also developed using OLGA software with the intention of identifying the capability of this software. This article presents the comparison of the simulation and experimental data in terms of near riser base and flow line pressure variations along with flow regime predictions. The existence of the multiple roots in the OLGA code is also reported for the first time. Additionally, a review on the state-of-the-art application of the code and analysis of the numerical experiment performance of the code are included.