Numerical Investigation on Multiphase Erosion-Corrosion Problem of Steel of Apparatus at a Well Outlet in Natural Gas Production

Abstract

The erosion-corrosion problem of gas well pipeline under gas–liquid two-phase fluid flow is crucial for the natural gas well production, where multiphase transport phenomena expose great influences on the feature of erosion-corrosion. A Eulerian–Eulerian two-fluid flow model is applied to deal with the three-dimensional gas–liquid two-phase erosion-corrosion problem and the chemical corrosion effects of the liquid droplets dissolved with CO2 on the wall are taken into consideration. The amount of erosion and chemical corrosion is predicted. The erosion-corrosion feature at different parts including expansion, contraction, step, screw sections, and bends along the well pipeline is numerically studied in detail. For dilute droplet flow, the interaction between flexible water droplets and pipeline walls under different operations is treated by different correlations according to the liquid droplet Reynolds numbers. An erosion-corrosion model is set up to address the local corrosion and erosion induced by the droplets impinging on the pipe surfaces. Three typical cases are studied and the mechanism of erosion-corrosion for different positions is investigated. It is explored by the numerical simulation that the erosion-corrosion changes with the practical production conditions: Under lower production rate, chemical corrosion is the main cause for erosion-corrosion; under higher production rate, erosion predominates greatly; and under very high production rate, erosion becomes the main cause. It is clarified that the parts including connection site of oil pipe, oil pipe set, and valve are the places where erosion-corrosion origins and becomes serious. The failure mechanism is explored and good comparison with field measurement is achieved.