NUMERICAL STUDY TO PREDICT PROPERTIES OF WAXY CRUDE OIL UNDER DYNAMIC COOLING

Abstract

In this paper, a parametric study was conducted via ANSYS-Fluent workbench to predict the properties of waxy crude oil subjected to dynamic cooling. Different case studies were conducted to validate the numerical study, and prediction of temperature for pipelines of up to 100 m length was made. It was observed that the percentage difference between the experimental and simulation results was below 20%. The temperature drop was smaller with a higher flow rate, with the temperature dropping from 350K to 338K in an uninsulated pipe of 100 m length. The temperature drop for lower flow rate could be considered significant to reach wax appearance temperature during dynamic cooling. This study would be a supporting step to involve simulation in predicting the properties of waxy crude oil in different pipe sizes.

Keywords

• waxy crude oil
• dynamic cooling
• ansys-fluent
• parametric study