CFD simulation of horizontal oil-water flow with matched density and medium viscosity ratio in different flow regimes

TLDR: In this article, the SST k-ω turbulence scheme with turbulence damping at the interface gives better predictions than the standard K-e and RNG k-e models for the case under consideration.

About: This article is published in Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering.The article was published on 2017-03-01 and is currently open access. It has received 63 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Two-phase flow & Open-channel flow.

Figures

Fig. 4. Cross-sectional turbulence characteristics from different turbulence schemes - (a) Standard k-ε; (b) RNG k-ε; (c) SST k-ω without turbulence damping; (d) SST k-ω with turbulence damping.

Fig. 5. Illustration of wall wettability and wall contact angle. (a) Strongly water-wetting; (b) moderately water-wetting; (c) strongly oil wetting.

Fig. 8. Monitored face average pressure with simulation time. (a) Case 3, Resw=778; (b) Case 9, Resw=14 271.

Fig. 3. Predicted flow patterns with the VOF model together with different turbulence schemes - (a) Standard k-ε; (b) RNG k-ε; (c) SST k-ω without turbulence damping; (d) SST k-ω with turbulence damping. The red represents oil and the blue represents water.

Fig. 6. Calculated flow patterns from simulations with the different wall contact angles - (a) 5°; (b) 60°; (c) 90°; (d) 120°; (e) 150°; (f) 175°. The red represents oil and the blue represents water.

Fig. 7. Comparison of experimental and CFD predicted flow patterns. Illustrations of experimental flow patterns are adapted from Charles et al. (1961); the black represents water and the white with dots inside represents oil. Illustrations of flow patterns from simulation are contours of oil volume fraction of developed flow; the red represents oil and the blue represents water.