Theme #1 Improving Long Subsea Tieback Integrity
Build confidence in the use of long subsea tiebacks for oil (100 – 150 km) and gas (160 – 300 km) through a combination of experimental and modelling techniques. This encompasses a set of projects around improving our understanding of which materials can be successfully deployed and new sensing techniques to monitor and diagnose potential hazards.
High Fidelity Hydrate Module
Current hydrate management software is concentrated on answering the question of when and where a pipeline will enter the hydrate region. The next generation of subsea developments will require far more information on the rate of hydrate formation and its behaviour once formed. This project’s initial focus is on integrating an extension to predict hydrate…
More InfoHigh Fidelity Top of Line Modelling
The applicability of models developed in small diameter test pipelines to larger flowlines prevalent particularly in the offshore gas industry is an open question. At present, most correlations have been developed under these circumstances, and laboratory capabilities are typically at the small scale. Through a collaboration with Dassault Systems and IFE, we aim to use…
More InfoHigh Fidelity Pipeline Engineering
Improving the integrity of subsea tiebacks goes beyond the internal dynamics of pipelines – a holistic view of the challenges must also include the exterior. Previously at UWA, the Stable Pipe JIP explored the interaction of pipelines with the sea floor to evaluate movement and stability. As part of this project, these lessons will be…
More InfoHigh Fidelity Corrosion Module
Building on project in outcomes from High Fidelity Top of Line Modelling, we aim to introduce a new generation of corrosion prediction tools. These will integrate the fundamentals of corrosion science with our advanced TOL flow models to deliver an extension for flow management tools to provide reliable integrated rate prediction. Combining this capability with…
More InfoHigh Fidelity Wax Module
A range of tools and methods exist for modelling wax buildup in flowlines currently, but these are not typically associated directly with multiphase flow software. Further, there are significant uncertainties involved in predicting the freeze out of hydrocarbons to form deposits. As part of this project we aim to create an integrated flow management tool…
More InfoHydrate Corrosion Interaction with Carbon Steel
Historically, flow assurance problems have been dealt with in isolation, where solutions are constructed for each individual problem without considering interactions between, for example, hydrate formation and corrosion. This is known to be a limitation as, for example, corrosion inhibitors share many common characteristics with hydrate anti-agglomerants – both are typically strong surfactants. As part…
More InfoCorrosion Resistant Alloy Transition
Corrosion resistant alloys represent a common yet expensive tool for managing the effects of corrosive environments in some oil & gas developments. Through our collaboration with the Curtin Corrosion Centre, we are improving our understanding of these systems to help tighten design margins and give industry the confidence to make more use of carbon steels….
More InfoAdvanced Sensing of Water Content
The distribution of fluids within a pipeline at any given time is generally not known from direct measurements, and must instead be inferred through modelling techniques, or limited sensing capabilities. This can pose challenges in terms of understanding what the liquid inventory is within the flowline, in particular how well inhibited the water phase is…
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