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1 Introduction... 2
2 Multiphase Flow Introduction. 3
3 Design Considerations5
1 Introduction
1.1 Scope
The scope of this Best Practice is to document the observations from the field
experiences and establish practical guidelines and procedures in order to
improve or mitigate in-plant piping hydraulic performance issues when under
multiphase flow condition.
1.2 Disclaimer
This Best Practice is being provided for the general guidance and benefit of
Saudi Aramco engineers and operating facilities. The use of the information or
material contained here will not release the users from the responsibility of
safeguarding and controlling their operations within Saudi Aramco established
guidelines such as GIs and engineering standards.
In the event of a conflict between this Best Practice and other Mandatory Saudi
Aramco Engineering Requirement, the Mandatory Saudi Aramco Engineering
Requirement shall govern.
1.4 References
This Best Practice is based on the latest edition of the references listed in below,
unless otherwise noted.
Page 2 of 10
Document Responsibility: Flow Assurance Standards Committee SABP-A-049
Issue Date: 24 June 2015
Next Planned Update: TBD Multiphase Flow Guidelines for In-Plant Piping
The piping will be under two or three phase flow condition whenever immiscible oil,
water, and gas co-exist in the piping system. A combination of the gas/oil/water
flowrate and the pipe orientation (horizontal/vertical/inclined) will dictate the
multiphase flow conditions and the different flow patterns.
Page 3 of 10
Document Responsibility: Flow Assurance Standards Committee SABP-A-049
Issue Date: 24 June 2015
Next Planned Update: TBD Multiphase Flow Guidelines for In-Plant Piping
In bubble flow, a continuous liquid phase exists with gas bubbles dispersed in
the liquid phase when liquid flowrate is high. At lower flowrate, complete
separation of gas and liquid will form two phases with gas on the top and liquid
in the bottom. This is the so-called stratified flow. When gas rate increases, the
gas-liquid interface will be agitated and liquid waves will form. This is the
wavy (stratified) flow pattern. Slug flow pattern is characterized with
alternative gas and liquid phases in the pipe when the gas bubble is almost filled
the whole pipe sections. The annular flow exists at higher gas rate. The liquid
is pushed toward the wall to form a continuous annular film.
Similar to the horizontal pipe, the bubble flow is characterized with continuous
liquid phase with gas bubble dispersed in the liquid. When the quantity of gas
increases, the gas bubble will collide with each other and form bigger bubbles.
The gas bubbles can be very big and fill the whole pipe section area to form the
slug flow. The churn flow is an intermediate flow pattern between slug flow
and annular flow. The fluid travels back and forth when gas bubbles become
unstable. The gas bubbles will merge and burst into smaller ones to make the
flow unstable. This is an unstable flow pattern and needs to be avoided.
Annular flow is formed at high gas rate when the liquid is pushed to the wall to
form a continuous liquid film layer.
Page 4 of 10
Document Responsibility: Flow Assurance Standards Committee SABP-A-049
Issue Date: 24 June 2015
Next Planned Update: TBD Multiphase Flow Guidelines for In-Plant Piping
3 Design Considerations
3.1 How to Determine if the In-Plant Piping is under Multiphase Flow Condition
Page 5 of 10
Document Responsibility: Flow Assurance Standards Committee SABP-A-049
Issue Date: 24 June 2015
Next Planned Update: TBD Multiphase Flow Guidelines for In-Plant Piping
Figure 3 shows a flow stream called Fluid to HPPT_Trap and Figure 4 shows
a flow stream called 218. It is very obvious that stream Fluid to
HPPT_Trap is three phases while stream 218 is one phase. Since stream
Fluid to HPPT_Trap is three phases, the piping used for this stream will be
under three phase conditions while piping for stream 218 is under single phase
condition. Special considerations for piping design and operation are needed if
a stream is determined to be under two/three phase conditions.
3.2 General Considerations for the Design and Operation of Multiphase Flow
In-Plant Piping
Page 6 of 10
Document Responsibility: Flow Assurance Standards Committee SABP-A-049
Issue Date: 24 June 2015
Next Planned Update: TBD Multiphase Flow Guidelines for In-Plant Piping
flow rates (velocities). The selection of the flowing conditions and pipe size
should try to avoid those flowrate (velocity) areas.
Extra load to the pipeline support and to the pipeline tee and bends due to
multiphase flow needs to be considered. Velocity for the stable flow patterns
(bubble flow, stratified flow, and annular flow) can be obtained by steady-state
multiphase flow simulators (refer to SAEP-363 for recommended software).
The velocity can then be used to perform the force calculations and stress
analysis per the corresponding pipeline design standards. For example, 10.2 in
SAES-L-620 states the slug load calculation is as the following (page 22 of
SAES-L-620):
Fx= Fy =Av2 /g
where
is the density of the liquid phase,
A is the cross-sectional flow area of the pipe,
v is the gas velocity propelling the slug of liquid, and
g is gravity.
Normal pipeline support and restrain design will not meet the load for unstable
flow patterns (slug flow, churn flow) due to its dynamic nature. The dynamic
load should be analyzed using appropriate stress analysis software. Pipeline
multiphase dynamic simulation software should be used for velocity calculations
(refer to SAEP-363 for recommended software). The calculated results can then
be provided to the stress analysis software for support design.
3.3 Examples
Piping Vibration
Page 7 of 10
Document Responsibility: Flow Assurance Standards Committee SABP-A-049
Issue Date: 24 June 2015
Next Planned Update: TBD Multiphase Flow Guidelines for In-Plant Piping
consider the whole range of the operation conditions as unstable flow may only
exist in some operation conditions as shown in Figure 5 and Figure 6.
Page 8 of 10
Document Responsibility: Flow Assurance Standards Committee SABP-A-049
Issue Date: 24 June 2015
Next Planned Update: TBD Multiphase Flow Guidelines for In-Plant Piping
Figure 5 and Figure 6 show liquid flowrate at an in-plant piping key location.
The flowrate in Figure 6 is about half of the flowrate in Figure 5 and the magnitude
of flowrate oscillation in Figure 6 is much higher than that in Figure 5. The piping
design needs to consider Figure 6 flow conditions if it is determined that this
flowrate is one of the operation conditions.
Separator 1 Separator 2
Figure 7 shows a piping arrangement to two separators. There are several issues
to this piping arrangement:
The fluid is flowing out of the header from the bottom of the pipe, which can
potentially take more liquid than gas for the first separator.
The flowrate may not be equal due to more friction loss in the second separator.
Separator 1
Separator 2
Page 9 of 10
Document Responsibility: Flow Assurance Standards Committee SABP-A-049
Issue Date: 24 June 2015
Next Planned Update: TBD Multiphase Flow Guidelines for In-Plant Piping
In the case of plant expansion, more separators can be added. It should pay
close attention to minimize the multiphase flow impact to the flow split as
shown in the below example.
Separator 1
Separator 2
The tie-in points for the jumper line between the two separators are not at the
same level. This arrangement will promote more gas flowing to the tie-in point
at higher elevation and more liquid flowing to the tie-in point at lower elevation,
which will cause more gas to Separator 1 and more liquid to Separator 2.
Revision Summary
25 June 2014 New Saudi Aramco Best Practice.
24 June 2015 Editorial revision to transfer responsibility from the Process Engineering Standards
Committee.
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