Transient Modelling of Water Condensation Rate for Top of Line Corrosion

On behalf of @Wood, yesterday I had the pleasure of presenting at @APPEAConference on a compelling technical matter:?Transient Modelling of Water Condensation Rate for Top of Line Corrosion.

For those that don’t know, top of line corrosion (TOLC) is typically a concern in the first few kilometres of wet gas pipelines where water in the warm gas condenses on the cold pipe walls.

With the introduction of a subsea tieback to existing infrastructure, the changing fluid composition and temperature profiles may increase condensation in sections not previously expected to have condensation. Accurate prediction of the water condensation rate (WCR) becomes essential to support reliable corrosion modelling.?

Transient flow simulation of pipeline operating conditions and detailed heat transfer modelling is required to calculate the WCR. This calculation is complicated because the mass of water condensation is very small compared to the fluid mass in the pipeline, and sensitive to glycol that is often present in the aqueous phase for hydrate management purposes.?

The paper introduced a method to calculate WCR by using detailed transient modelling of the pipeline operating conditions. ?The WCR sensitivity results were analysed based on varying inlet temperatures, glycol concentrations, and pipeline heat transfer coefficients.

?If you’d like to know more on Wood’s capabilities in this area, then please contact myself directly via email at [email protected]

?#teamwood #appeaconference #designingthefuture #APPEACONF

Shane Morrissy , Adam Mackenzie