Upscaling Modeling Using Dimensional Analysis in Gas-Liquid Flows
Abdel Al-Sarkhi, PhD, Research Associate
Studies with a large diameter facility and high pressure would significantly improve our understanding (and modeling) of flow characteristics in actual field conditions. Experiments at high pressures are very limited because of the high cost of these experiments.
Models and correlations are usually validated against low pressure and temperature, i.e. standard conditions and small pipe diameter data. It is important to validate the applicability of the models and correlations with experimental results obtained for conditions similar to those experienced in a real field. Thus, pressure drop, liquid holdup and other parameters data at high system pressures and temperature are needed.
The objective of this project is to develope a method based on dimensional analysis to scale-up (or scale-down) pressure drop, liquid holdup and other multiphase flow parameters data at elevated (or reduced) system pressures, diameter and temperature. This exercise will also help to define more effective experimental matrices and to minimize operational cost to analyze the effect of parameters such as pipe diameter, temperature and pressure. This technique will also enable us to evaluate models and correlations at difficult, inaccessible and faraway operational conditions which cannot be tested experimentally.