Title: Numerical modelling of carbon dioxide leakage from an offshore pipeline

Authors: Victoria Smirnova; Antonie Oosterkamp

Addresses: Polytec R&D, Sørhauggata 128, 5527 Haugesund, Norway ' Polytec R&D, Sørhauggata 128, 5527 Haugesund, Norway

Abstract: A three-dimensional transient computational model was developed to simulate the break up of carbon dioxide escaping from a pipeline leak to the seawater. Important physical phenomena such as turbulence and mass transfer during evaporation of the initially liquid CO₂ stream are included in the model. Sensitivity of the model for mesh size, turbulence model and the order of the spatial discretisation scheme are shown for different scenarios. A three stage approach is used to achieve sufficient level of convergence for the transient multiphase turbulent flow simulation using the Span and Wagner equation of state and a high-order discretisation schemes. The scenarios considered in this study include a wide range of pipeline operating pressure, ambient seawater depth and leakage size.

Keywords: computational modelling; multiphase flow; carbon dioxide; pipeline transport; CO2 leakage; numerical simulation; offshore pipelines; 3D modelling; pipeline leaks; turbulence modelling; mass transfer; spatial discretisation; pipeline operating pressure; ambient seawater depth; leakage size.

DOI: 10.1504/PCFD.2016.077295

Progress in Computational Fluid Dynamics, An International Journal, 2016 Vol.16 No.4, pp.251 - 260

Received: 18 Feb 2014
Accepted: 21 Feb 2015
Published online: 28 Jun 2016 *

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