Slugflow

wanalysis

Horizon
ntaldirection
n
SlugFlow
Iftheliiquidrate isnowinc reased,attransition fromsegreegatedtoiintermitte ntflow
occurs..Thehigheerliquidraatecauses thewave creststot ouchthettopofthe pipeand
formfro
othyslugs.TThevelocityyoftheseliq
quidslugsandthealterrnatinglargeegasbubb lesis
greaterrthanthe averageliq
quidveloc ity.Thela rgegasbu bblesoccu
upynearlytthewhole
pipecro
osssectionaalarea.I.E:

a Lowquaalitysteamfflowforwellinjection.
a)
b TwoPhaaseflowsysstems
b)
c Inadverttentcollectioninreliefflines.
c)

Occurreence:

Thistyp
peofflow mayoccurrinapockketedlineb
betweena noverhea dcondens erat
gradeaandanelevvatedreflu
uxdrum.D
Dischargel inesfrom pressures afetyvalvees,
rupturediscsmayh
haveslugflo
ow.Slugflowwillnoto
occurinagrravityflowliine.

VerticalDirection
SlugFlow
Astheliquidvolumetricratedecreasesorthegasrate
oalesceinto
olargebubb
bleswhicho
occupyamajor
increasees,thesmalllbubblesco
p o r t i o n o f t h e p i p e c r o s s s e c t i o n a l a r e a . Alteernatinglarrgegasbubb
blesand
liquidslugsmoveth
hroughthe pip e wit h so mes m a l l b ub b l e so f g a sse nt ra inee di n
nwardverticcalflow,bu titis
th el iq uid slugs.Slugflowcaanoccurineeitherupwaardordown
usuallyynotinitiattedduringgdownwar dflow.Ho
owever,ifsslugflowisswellesta blished
inanu pwardleg,,itwillperrsistinas ub se que n
nt down w a r d or ho r izo ntal l eg ,
pr ovid e dt ha t o t he rconditionsremainthesamee.

Effectso
ofslugflow
Slugflowcausesseriouspressurefluctuationswhichcanupsetthe
processconditionsandcauseinconsistentinstrumentsensing.
M o r e o v e r , i t c a u s e s vib
brationesp
peciallyat vesselinleets,pipeb ends,valv esand
otherf lowrestricctions.Thisscanleadto
oequipmen
ntdeteriorattionandoperatingproblems.
ugflow:
SpecialCasesofSlu

VacuumTransferLines.
CondenserOutletLines.
ReboilerReturnLines.
FiredHeateroutlets.
BoilerBlowdown.

Methodstoavoidslugflow

By r e d u c i n g l i n e s i z e s t o a m i n i m u m p e r m i t t e d b y
a v a i l a b l e p r e s s u r e differentials.
Bydesigningparallelpiperunsthatwillincreaseflow
c a p a c i t y w i t h o u t increasingtheoverallfrictionloss.
Byusingalowpointeffluentdrainorbypassorothersolutions.
Byarrangingthepipeconfigurationstoprotectagainstslug
f l o w . E . g . i n a pocketedlinewhereliquidcancollect,slugflowmight
develop.Hencepocketistobeavoided.

InCaesarII:

a) Thelengthofthefluidcylinder.(Thelongerthemoreconservative)
b) Theinsidediameterofthepipethruwhichfluidismoving.
c) Theestimatedvelocityofthefluidcylinder.(Ifnoothervalueisavailablethentakenas
between0.5and1.0timesthegasflowvelocity.)

Theslugflowtimehistoryisestimatedasshowninthefigurebelow:

Slugimpactloadfullydevelopedwhenslug
leadingedgereachesthiscrosssection.

Angle

Directionofslugtravel

BendPipe
R

Impactstartswhenslug
edgereachesthispoint.

Slugrisetime:R/V
R:BendRadius
:BendAngle
V:Slugtravellingvelocity
Slugimpactduration:(LR)/V
Slugclosingtime:Slugrisetime

Force

Fslug

Time

R/V

Fslug=mv=(pAV)V=pAV2
P=Fluiddensity
A=Areaofpipe
V=Velocityofvapor
Slugimpactriseandfalltime=0
Slugimpactduration=2L/V
SlugimpactDynamicLoadmagnitude=rAV2

LR /V

R /V

Where:

Listheestimatedlengthoftheslugcylinder

Visthevelocityoftheslug

Risthefluiddensity,and

Aistheinsideareaofthepipe.

Thebasicstepsintheslugflowanalysisbecome:
a) Estimatewherethemaximumproblemsduetoslugflowimpactaremostlikely
tooccur.
b) Computethemagnitudeoftheslugflowloadateachoftheelbowsorflow
restrictionsofconcern.
c) Estimatethetimewaveformoftheslugflowload,andusethepulsetable
generatortogetaresponsespectrumforeachdifferentslugflowtime
waveform.
d) Definetheforcesspectrumshockloadcases.Forelbowsthatareveryclose,the
usermaywishtoapplytheloadsfrombothinthesameloadcase.
e) Runthespectrumanalysis,andreviewthepredicteddisplacements,forcesand
stresses.
Notforcalculatingslugimpactloadsatbendsotherthan90degree;

Outgoingdirection

Directionofslugtravel
Incomingdirection
(Paralleltoglobalaxis)

Changeinmomentumincomingdirection=(1)pAV2
Changeinmomentumperpendiculartotheincomingdirection=(sin)pAV2

Direction=(sin)pAV2


Thisamp
plificationiso
oftenexpresssedasthedyynamicloadfactorDLFandisdefined
dasthemaxiimumratio
ofthedyynamicdeflectionatanytimetothed
deflectionwh
hichwouldh
haveresulted
dfromthestaatic
applicatiionoftheloaad.Forstructtureshavingessentiallyo
onedegreeo
offreedomandasinglelo
oad
applicatiion,theDLFvvaluewillran
ngebetween
noneandtw
wodependinggonthetimeehistoryofth
heapplied
loadand
dthenaturalfrequencyofthestructure.


Thereisnowaytokn
nowforcertaain,soyoum
makeassumptions:
WhatcouldthesmaallestslugbeethatIwould
dhavetowo
orryabout?
Whatcouldbethelargestslugtthattheysystemcouldhaandlewithou
utdestroyinggitself?
Whatw
wouldbeareeasonableslu
ug,midwayb
betweentheprevioustwo
o?