Hydraulic-thermal coupled model of different temperature batch transportation of crude oil pipeline

Pipelining of crude oils in batches with different out-station temperatures is a new technology that the heating/ out-station temperature is adjusted in accordance to safety and energy-saving requirements based on the flow properties of pumped crudes. A mathematical model, which is solved by the virtual boundary condition on the shift grids for the first time, is developed to describe the unsteady flow and heat transfer of different temperature batch transportation of crude oil buried pipeline. Due to the compact hydraulic-thermal coupling, the numerical code can competently be used to simulate the operating parameters under complex conditions during design or operation stages, including the adjustment of temperature, flow rate and pressure whenever at the out-station position, the change of ground temperature and physical properties of crude/soil along the pipeline, and the unlimited number of crude oil types and batches with ordering freely and volume optionally. The model is verified by the field data of Xingang-Dalian pipeline transporting crude oils in batches with different out-station temperatures, and the results show that the mean of the deviation in each batch between the measured and the computed in-station temperatures is within 1.4 ℃.