Study on the Choking Model for Elimination of Severe Slugging in Offshore Oil and Gas Fields

XU Luhan; YAN Yiwei; WU Quanhong; DU Yaohua; WANG Hanxuan; ZOU Suifeng

doi:10.21656/1000-0887.460140

Volume 47 Issue 6

Jun. 2026

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Article Navigation > Applied Mathematics and Mechanics > 2026 > 47(6): 773-786

XU Luhan, YAN Yiwei, WU Quanhong, DU Yaohua, WANG Hanxuan, ZOU Suifeng. Study on the Choking Model for Elimination of Severe Slugging in Offshore Oil and Gas Fields[J]. Applied Mathematics and Mechanics, 2026, 47(6): 773-786. doi: 10.21656/1000-0887.460140

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Study on the Choking Model for Elimination of Severe Slugging in Offshore Oil and Gas Fields

doi: 10.21656/1000-0887.460140

1. State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, P.R. China;
2. Longyuan (Beijing) New Energy Engineering Technology Co., Ltd., Beijing 100034, P.R. China;
3. National Energy Wind Power Operation Technology R&D Center, Xi’an 710309, P.R. China

Received Date: 2025-08-01
Rev Recd Date: 2026-05-11

Available Online: 2026-07-03

Publish Date: 2026-06-01

Abstract

Abstract

Laboratory experiments were performed to establish a model for predicting the valve opening of the topside choking method for elimination of severe slugging in offshore oil and gas pipeline-riser systems. Based on the outflow characteristics of liquid slug at the riser top at the flow regime transition, which can be regarded as those of transient single-phase liquid flow, the condition for gas-liquid blowout mitigation was determined, i.e. the peak value of pressure drop across the valve shall be twice its time-average value just at the elimination moment of severe slugging, corresponding to the transient single-phase liquid flow. Then, the target resistant factor and the flow coefficient were derived successively according to the defined equations. Finally, the valve opening was worked out according to either the specification document of the valve or the calibration of the flow characteristics of the valve. The prediction model innovatively correlates the peak pressure drop across the choke valve with the physical process of instantaneous single-phase flow, resolving the inconsistency of mapping averaged 2-phase parameters to single-phase valve characteristics in conventional models. The average deviation of prediction for 2 experimental loops (150-m/DN 50 and 380-m/DN 80) is +0.55% and +1.8%, respectively, for experimental data from 2 experimental pipelines; while the deviation from automatic control result is smaller than ±2% in a field case. The established model can guide manual operations and serve as a setpoint for automatic control systems in offshore fields.
- 2-phase flow,
- severe slugging,
- topside choking,
- resistant factor

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References(29)

References

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