Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
1707175 Applied Mathematical Modelling 2007 13 Pages PDF
Abstract

In this paper we show how to obtain wax diffusivity and solubility values in crude oils from deposition measurements in the cold finger device with stirring. Providing a rather accurate knowledge of such quantities is of great importance in predicting the wax deposition rate in pipelines. We present a mathematical model in which the physical quantities are assumed to be space-independent in the bulk region of the device, because of agitation, so that mass transport occur in relatively thin boundary layers. As a consequence the deposition phenomenon is accelerated with respect to the static device (see [S. Correra, A. Fasano, L. Fusi, M. Primicerio, F. Rosso. Wax diffusivity under given thermal gradient: a mathematical model, to appear on ZAMM]), shortening the duration of experiments. Comparison with some available laboratory measurements shows a satisfactory agreement and the values obtained are in the range of those usually adopted by practitioners.

Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Engineering Computational Mechanics
Authors
, , , ,