Articles

Numerical Simulation of Crude Oil Vapor Explosion in Air Injection Pipe

  • ZHOU Yi;LIU Zhenyi;QIAN Xinming;LI Hao;PAN Zhenxiang;ZOU Guifu
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  • 1. State Key Laboratory of Explosion Science & Technology, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China;2. Branch Mining Area Service Department, PetroChina Jilin Oilfield Company, Songyuan 138003, Jilin Province, China;3. Production Technology Research Institute, PetroChina Jilin Oilfield Company, Songyuan 138003, Jilin Province, China

Received date: 2012-05-17

  Revised date: 2012-07-15

  Online published: 2012-08-08

Abstract

The air injection is an issue much studied and with a large amount of field practice experience, as it is an efficient way for oil recovery from the oil-gas reservoirs with low permeability. The flammable gas explosion should be considered during the process. In order to study the explosion scope and the explosion intensity, numerical simulations on the crude oil vapor explosion in the air injection pipeline under 30 MPa with different initial temperatures were conducted with the help of software AutoReaGas. The model is established according to an air injection pipe in an oilfield. The initial conditions are the typical parameters in the production process, such as the pressure 30MPa, the temperatures 20 ℃,45 ℃ and 90 ℃. The explosion temperature and the overpressure are analyzed as the two important parameters. It is found that after the explosion, the overpressure will reach 450 MPa and the temperature will reach 2400 K, which will do a great harm to the oil pipe and the Christmas Tree. The overpressure in the pipe is closely related to the initial temperature. The overpressure decreases when the initial temperature increases before the superposition of the explosive wave and the reflected wave, while the overpressure increases evidently when the initial temperature increases after the superposition area. However, the overpressure in the area more than 750m away will almost be zero. The initial temperature has little effect on the explosive temperature. When the initial pressure is 30 MPa, the temperature in the pipe will be back to the initial temperature in the area more than 600m away no matter how high the initial temperature is. It is concluded that only in the area filled with gas and the nearby area, the pressure and the temperature will rise after the explosion, the far away areas are little influenced.

Cite this article

ZHOU Yi;LIU Zhenyi;QIAN Xinming;LI Hao;PAN Zhenxiang;ZOU Guifu . Numerical Simulation of Crude Oil Vapor Explosion in Air Injection Pipe[J]. Science & Technology Review, 2012 , 30(22) : 19 -24 . DOI: 10.3981/j.issn.1000-7857.2012.22.001

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