Estudo numérico da influência da viscosidade no escoamento bifásico em um distribuidor

Abstract

The use of liquid-gas separators is necessary to increase performance of pumps and compressors used, which are developed for working using single phase flow. However, these equipment have large dimensions, making it expensive to transport and install on the seabed. A feasible alternative for reducing separators dimensions without harming their performance is the installation of a distributor that provides the distribution of the flow to four different outlets, also accomplishing a prior separation of the phases. It was studied in this work the viscosity influence on the flow inside a distributor, using three-dimensional and transient numerical simulations, with ANSYSCFX software. The flow was modeling with eulerian-eulerian two fluid model, Shear Stress Transport (SST) turbulence model and compressive discretization scheme for the capture of the liquid-gas interface. It was utilized finite volume based on finite elements method in the numerical model. Validation using experimental data indicated the model capacity to represent the proposed flow. The results showed that the increase in viscosity implies in the reduction of tangential forces along cyclonic chamber, causing a smaller distinction between the phases in the distribution system outlets. However, the distribution capacity was not altered according to the viscosity (1.0 cP, 28.5 cP and 42.6 cP), presenting an equitable distribution in the evaluated situations.