THERMAL SCIENCE

International Scientific Journal

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON GAS-LIQUID-COAL FINES THREE-PHASE FLOW IN UNDULATING PIPELINE

ABSTRACT
The aggregation of coal fines particles at the bottom of the coal-bed methane well is a common occurrence during production, which could inhibit the flow in the bottom of wells and have adverse effect on the downhole equipment. In this work, gas-liquid-solid three-phase flow experiments were carried out to investigate the migration and discharge of coal fines particles in undulating pipeline. The experiments were conducted in down bent V-shaped pipes with different inclination angles. Based on the conductivity method, the real-time liquid holdup at three positions of the elbow was measured by the developed software. The slugs were identified on the time series curves of liquid holdup, and the characteristics of each slug were calculated, such as length and translational velocity. Meanwhile, the moving of particles with different size and concentration can be observed through visualized flow channel. The dyed coal fines particles are injected into the multiphase flow loop. By observing whether they can be discharged from the V-shaped pipe, the lower limits of superficial gas and liquid velocities to avoid particle retention at the elbow were determined. A correlation to predict the critical gas and liquid velocity was presented, and the accuracy of the calculation model was verified in comparison with the experimental results.
KEYWORDS
PAPER SUBMITTED: 2017-12-18
PAPER REVISED: 2018-05-04
PAPER ACCEPTED: 2018-05-14
PUBLISHED ONLINE: 2018-06-03
DOI REFERENCE: https://doi.org/10.2298/TSCI171218162W
CITATION EXPORT: view in browser or download as text file
THERMAL SCIENCE YEAR 2019, VOLUME 23, ISSUE Issue 2, PAGES [683 - 694]
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