Transient drift flux modelling of severe slugging in pipeline-riser systems

A large number of pipelines in the petroleum industry simultaneously transport gas and liquid. Transient behaviour of multiphase flow is frequently encountered in these pipelines. A common example is severe slugging that can occur in multiphase flow systems where a pipeline segment with a downward or even horizontal inclination is followed by a riser segment with an upward inclination. Transient flow conditions associated with severe slugging are relatively slow. Therefore, a transient drift flux model consisting of one momentum balance equation might suffice to express the dynamics of severe slugging. We present a transient drift flux model to simulate severe slugging phenomenon in pipeline-riser systems. The present model contains recently published correlations by Shi et al. for the drift flux slip model which cover the complete range of flow conditions without introducing any discontinuities in the calculated flow parameters. Thus, the transient simulations are converging rapidly and efficiently without applying any form of smoothing. The present model is tested against experimental data for severe slugging showing a better performance than previously published models.