Multiphase Flow Laboratory

SINTEF Multiphase Flow Laboratory is one of the world's largest multiphase test facilities.

We provide world leading expertise within multiphase technology and a wide range of excellent experimental facilities for R&D applications as well as testing and verification of downhole, subsea and topside equipment and tools.

Our key expertise and focus is flow assurance – the successful transport of produced fluids from the reservoir to the final processing facility

Why choose SINTEF?

We have more than 30 year experience in professional testing and experimental work
We have an infrastructure able to:
- Handle equipment in a broad range of sizes up to full industrial scale
- Handle Ex requirements
We have a near-perfect HSE (HMS) record

The extended Tiller facility. Photo: SINTEF/Thor Nielsen

SINTEF Multiphase Flow Laboratory consists of different facilities that can be adapted based on the needs of our clients.

Published 10 July 2017

Tor Erling Unander

Laboratory Manager

466 80 171

TorErling.Unander@sintef.no

The Large scale loop

The Large Scale Loop is an industrial-sized three-phase flow laboratory. The capabilities cover a wide range of industry conditions to allow studies of all major flow challenges during production.

This test facility, the largest of its kind, has been the foundation for development in subsea oil and gas production in cold environments and over long transportation distances (See the film). The facility process equipment allows flexibility to accommodate customized testing geometries that differ to the standard pipe configuration.

Technical specifications

Large Scale Flow Loop
Operating pressure	5 – 90 barg
Operating temperature	10 – 50°C
Flow rate, gas	2 – 1500 m³/h
Flow rate, oil	0 – 1500 m³/h
Flow rate, water	0 – 200 m³/h
Gas phase	Nitrogen (any inert gas)
Oil phase	Any clean oil, 0.2 to 200 cP
Water phase	Tap water, brine
Near horizontal pipe length (0 to 2.5°)	800 m
Vertical pipe length	55 m
Pipe sizes	8" typically; 4" to 12" available
Material	Carbon steel

Instrumentation:

Flow rates
Temperature
Pressure
Flow visualization
Phase densities
Phase fractions in the test section
Available advanced instrumentation

Services:

Detailed multiphase flow in transport lines, wells and risers
Independent third- party verification and testing of equipment and sensors (Separators, pumps, valves, DTS, DAS, phase meters)
Evaluation of fluid properties effect in the flow (Viscosity, Density, surface tension)
Design of custom facilities

Recent Publications using the Large scale loop test infrastructure

The medium scale loop

The Medium Scale Loop is located indoor in a 60 m long laboratory hall. This is a 3-phase flow test facility that includes an 11 m³ separator that provides long retention times so that less easily separable fluids, such as viscous oils can be used. In addition by using SF₆ as the gas phase, gas densities equal to that of methane at 88 bar can be reached. The use of crude oils with flash point higher than ambient temperature can be tested allowing testing closer to field conditions.

This facility allows the study of multiphase flow in much greater detail than what is possible in the Large Scale Loop. For example: oil droplets, gas entrainment into oil and droplet entrainment into the gas phase, may be studied in this facility.

The testing geometry is decided by the client within the loop capacity.

multiphase flow laboratory SINTEF, medium scale loop, — Multiphase flow laboratory at SINTEF, the medium scale loop.

Technical specifications

Medium Scale Flow Loop
Operating pressure	1 – 12 barg
Operating temperature	Ambient, limits 5 – 50°C
Flow rate, gas	2 – 160 Am³/h
Flow rate, oil	0.1 – 80 m³/h
Flow rate, water	0.1 – 120 m³/h
Gas phase	Nitrogen, air, sulphur hexafluoride (any inert gas)
Oil phase	Any non-flammable, clean oil
Water phase	Tap water, brine
Near horizontal pipe length	Up to 200 m
Inclinations	-4 to 4°
Pipe sizes	Ideal size 3"; 2.5" to 5" available
Vertical pipe length	35 m
Material	Stainless steel

Measurements:

Flow rates
Temperature
Pressure
Flow visualization
Phase densities
Phase fractions in the test section
Phase fractions profile in the separator
Available advanced instrumentation

Services:

Detailed multiphase flow in transport lines and wells
Independent third- party verification and testing of equipment and sensors (i.e. Separators, pumps, valves, DTS, DAS, phase meters)
Evaluation of fluid properties effect in the flow (Viscosity, Density, surface tension)
Design of custom facilities

Recent publications using the Medium scale loop infrastructure

The safety cells

The laboratory for experiments that are explosive and poisonous. Different setups can be built within the Safety cells. Some of the features of the cells are:

Safe drain and vent
Gas detection
Temperature controlled chambers
Instrumentation and logging infrastructure
Gas distribution

Currently the following test facilities are built using the building infrastructure

The small scale loop
The wheels
The plug-index cell

Multiphase flow laboratory at SINTEF, the safety cells.

The small scale loop

The small scale loop allows work on high pressure high-temperature (HPHT) fluids. In the past has been used mainly for hydrate studies specifically for demonstration and development of the cold flow technology

The test loop consists of a 50m long 1" pipe distributed in 7 straight 6 m long 1" stainless steel sections. Three of these can be set to an inclination between 0 and 45°, one going up and one going down for studying complex geometries
It is possible to set up a 3-4m high 1" vertical section
The test loop can be pressurized up to 100bar, and is inside a temperature-controlled room from -10ºC to +50ºC
The loop is well suited for CO₂ transport studies. The temperature and pressure range covers both two-phase region and the supercritical region

Technical specifications

Small Scale Flow Loop
Operating pressure	1 – 90 barg
Operating temperature	-10 – 80°C
Flow rate, gas	0 – 8 Am³/h
Flow rate, oil	0 – 5 m³/h
Flow rate, water	0 – 5 m³/h
Gas phase	Any non-corrosive gas
Oil phase	Any crude or refined oil
Water phase	Any water chemistry
Near horizontal pipe length (0 to 2.5°)	50 m
Vertical pipe length	2 m
Pipe sizes	1"
Material	Stainless steel

Multiphase flow laboratory at SINTEF, the small scale loop

The wheel flow loops

This test facility consists of a steel pipe manufactured as closed hoop. The wheel is installed in vertical orientation and mounted on a shaft, which is rotated by an engine. The flow is driven by gravity, thus no pump or compressor is required. The fluids inside the wheel "see" an endless pipe through which they flow as multiphase mixture. All wheels are equipped with a torque sensor. Visual observation is possible for individual wheels. Placed in a climate chamber, temperature can be controlled precisely.

Services:

Screening of production chemicals (Such as hydrate inhibitors, demulisifiers, drag reducers)
Hydrate management: Long-term evalaution of plugging risk or deposition under restart, shut-in or transport situations
Study of timescales for flow development (formation and separation of emulsions)
Study of stability of drilling fluids (realistic PVT)

The wheel flow loops, Multiphase flow laboratory at SINTEF

Recent publications

Measurements:

Temperature
Pressure
Flow visualization
Velocity
Torque

The wetting index cell

This test facility provides an easy and fast way to understand the risk of hydrate agglomeration.

The plug index (Wetting index) is a crude oil (or condensate) parameter. It is a quantitative measure of the tendency of an oil to form agglomerating/plugging gas ydrates. Thus the PI parameter can be used for evaluation of the anti-agglomerating properties of oils, either as an indigenous oil property or as a result of chemical additives

Background
It has been found that the formation of hydrate dispersions can be related to hydrate wettability, i.e. the tendency of water or oil to spread on or adhere to the hydrate surface. Oil-wet behavior generally promotes dispersions that can easily be transported within the fluid flow, while water-wet behavior promotes agglomerating and plugging hydrate systems. For oil/brine/hydrate systems, the hydrate wettability, and thus the hydrate plugging tendency of the oil, can be quantitatively determined by the pluging index PI.

Recent publications

Evaluation of Gas Hydrates Operation Zone to Establish an Optimal Hydrate Management Strategy (2017)

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