Pressure pulse wave attenuation model coupling waveform distortion and viscous dissipation for blockage detection in pipeline

• Published in: Energy science & engineering 2020-01, Vol.8 (1), p.260-265
• Main Authors: Chu, Jiawei, Yang, Lei, Liu, Yu, Song, Yongchen, Yu, Tianbo, Lv, Xin, Li, Qingping, Zhao, Jiafei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: blockage percentage detection; Deposition; Distortion; Elastic waves; Gas hydrates; Gas pipelines; Injury prevention; Model accuracy; nonlinear effect; oil and gas transportation; Petroleum pipelines; Pipeline safety; Pipelines; pressure pulse wave attenuation model; Pressure transducers; Propagation; Transportation; Velocity; Wave attenuation; waveform distortion; Waveforms
• ISSN: 2050-0505; 2050-0505
• DOI: 10.1002/ese3.435

Safety issues are always a major concern in the oil and gas transportation facilities. Equipment damages are frequently encountered due to solid deposition such as gas hydrate deposition. A fast and efficient detection of the location, length, and rate of the accumulating blockage will significantly help relieve the potential risk. Most existing pressure wave‐based models suffer the difficulty to properly predict the blockage percentage arising from the ignorance of the wave attenuation. In the present work, an attenuation model to describe the transportation of the pressure pulse wave in gas is developed; the effects of waveform distortion and absorption as a result of the nonlinear effect and viscous dissipation are collectively considered for the first time. A simplified procedure to couple the wave attenuation in the model is proposed. The results show that the model can remarkably improve the prediction accuracy of blockage percentage by reducing the errors from −9.0% to −4.2%. Moreover, the attenuation process of the pressure pulse wave is determined to consist of three stages. The effect of waveform distortion on amplitude mainly occurs in the second stage, when our proposed model shows an improved prediction. The performance of the proposed model will help the early warning of the blockage in the pipelines and effectively avoid the potential injury and financial loss. This paper developed an attenuation model to describe the transportation of the pressure pulse wave in gas. The effects of waveform distortion and absorption as a result of the nonlinear effect and viscous dissipation are collectively considered for the first time, and a simplified procedure to couple the wave attenuation in the model is proposed. The results show that the model can remarkably improve the blockage percentage prediction accuracy in pipelines from −9.0% to −4.2% based on pressure pulse wave method which will significantly help relieve the potential risk of gas transportation facilities. Moreover, the attenuation process of the pressure pulse wave is determined to consist of three stages. The effect of waveform distortion on amplitude mainly occurs in the second stage, when our proposed model shows an improved prediction.