On the Development of Deadleg Criterion

Abstract

Corrosion in deadlegs occurs as a result of water separation due to the very low flow velocity. This work aims to investigate the effect of geometry and orientation on flow field and oil/water separation in deadlegs in an attempt for the development of a deadleg criterion. The investigation is based on the solution of the mass and momentum conservation equations of an oil/water mixture together with the volume fraction equation for the secondary phase. Results are obtained for two main deadleg orientations and for different lengths of the deadleg in each orientation. The considered fluid mixture contains 90% oil and 10% water (by volume). The deadleg length to diameter ratio (L/D) ranges from 1 to 9. The results show that the size of the stagnant fluid region increases with the increase of L/D. For the case of a vertical deadleg, it is found that the region of the deadleg close to the header is characterized by circulating vortical motions for a length l≈3 D while the remaining part of the deadleg occupied by a stagnant fluid. In the case of a horizontal deadleg, the region of circulating flow extends to 3–5 D. The results also indicated that the water volumetric concentration increases with the increase of L/D and is influenced by the deadleg orientation. The streamline patterns for a number of cases were obtained from flow visualization experiments (using 200 mW Argon laser) with the objective of validating the computational model.