新建海底天然气管道干空气干燥模型研究

1. Introduction The hydrostatic test must be carried out immediately on the completion of submarine gas pipeline construction, after which dewatering removes as much of the filled water as possible from the pipeline. However, after the dewatering operatio…

Air-drying Models for New-built Offshore Gas Pipelines

Drying (conditioning) is an important procedure to prevent hydrate formation during gas pipeline gas-up and to protect pipelines against corrosion. The air-drying method is preferred in offshore gas pipelines pre-commissioning. The air-drying process of gas pipelines commonly includes two steps, air purging and soak test. The mass conservation and the phase equilibrium theory are applied to setting up the mathematical models of air purging, which can be used to simulate dry airflow rate and drying time. Fick diffusion law is applied to setting up the mathematical model of soak test, which can predict the water vapor concentration distribution. The results calculated from the purging model and the soak test model are in good agreement with the experimental data in the DF1-1 offshore production pipeline conditioning. The models are verified to be available for the air-drying project design of offshore gas pipelines. Some proposals for air-drying engineering and operational procedures are put forward by analyzing the air-drying process of DF1-1 gas-exporting pipelines.