CDF study of two-phase flow in helico-axial pump stage

Abstract

Pumping is an essential part of the process of several industries. Pumping and processing fluids with different properties have revealed to be among the major challenges in the last decades.

In the oil and gas industry, multiphase pumping plays a key role in extending the life of dying fields and getting access to the exploitation of fields in harsh locations. In this way multiphase boosting is the most important technology to enhance the production and economics by increasing flow rates and optimizing the production cycle of oil and gas reservoirs.

In this research, included inside the project MODELLING THE PERFORMANCE OF SUBSEA MULTIPHASE BOOSTING developed by SUBPRO, the principal aim is to develop a compendium of maps performance of the pump proposed by SUBPRO through the application of computational fluid dynamics. The results obtained will be used by SUBPRO to complete the development of multiphase flow studies with this pump.

The laboratory and experimental work included computational fluid dynamic study and pump assembly in the workshop. The CFD study included the generation of several meshes and the mesh validation process, the study of the performance of the pump under different flow rates and rotational speeds and this master thesis as an easy to use guide to generate computational fluid dynamics studies.

After the CFD study, all the results obtained have been analysed and compared, reaching the general conclusion that for an optimum rotational speed it is possible to set a performance that offers more efficiency and less head. And the opposite is also true, meaning that it is possible to set a performance that offers less efficiency but more head. The particular conclusion for this case study is that the pump has to work closer to the nominal capacity of the motor because the best results are obtained with more rotational speed.

Finally, some recommendations for further work are proposed. The activities carried out in the workshop have to be done following the guide developed by the author and some initial values for multiphase flow CFD study have been included in this job