Multiphase flow analysis of Desanders Sand Separators
Date
2020-05-13
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Abstract
Multiphase flows have been a significant problem in the oil and gas industry, with many recent reports of failures in industrial piping and equipment due to erosion either from long-term liquid impingements or solid particles. One of the most efficient horizontal sand separators is the product developed by Specialized Desanders Inc., which is called the “Horizontal Desander.” It is a gravity-based separator, and the associated multiphase flow physics has been investigated in this research. This study analyzes the phase separation by applying multiphase numerical analysis using Star CCM+ software. Experimental testing with the two-phase flow (air and water), and three-phase flow (air, water, and sand) were performed and compared to the numerical results. After confidence is established in the numerical model, a four-phase simulation was performed to analyze the sand distribution at different operating pressures. The Particle Image Velocimetry measurements applied to the two-phase experiment showed that the time-averaged, RMS of velocity fluctuations and the frequency analysis of the air-liquid interface are in an acceptable agreement with the simulation results. Both the experiment and the simulation results have shown that 99% of sand has settled within 54% of the Desander length. The four-phase simulations show that higher operating pressures reduce the liquid level, and this affects the velocity of phases inside the Desander. The velocity changes result in changes to the trajectory of sand particles, causing them to travel further downstream at higher operating pressure. Knowledge of the different phase interactions and behavior of multiphase flow is essential in developing and optimizing gravity separators.
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Keywords
Multiphase flow, Sand Separation, Horizontal Separators
Citation
Basyouny, A. (2020). Multiphase flow analysis of Desanders Sand Separators (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.