A Verified Hydrodynamic-Thermal Baseline for Wax Transport and Deposition Modeling in Oil Pipelines
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.70567/mc.v42.ocsid8281Palabras clave:
Wax deposition, flow assurance, heat transfer, mass transfer, CFD verification, OpenFOAMResumen
A verified hydrodynamic-thermal baseline for laminar channel flow is established as a foundation for future wax-transport and wall-deposition modeling. The OpenFOAM 12 setup (meshing, numerics) is documented and a concise post-processing protocol is provided to ensure reproducibility. Convergence to a statistically steady regime is quantified via relative l2 norms of velocity and temperature referenced to t = 35 s. Local heat transfer is obtained from wall temperature gradients and bulk definitions, reporting streamwise Nusselt number as temporal medians with interquartile ranges over 30-35 s. The curve of the streamwise Nusselt number shows a short thermal-entry peak and approaches an asymptote at approximately 9.2 by a non-dimensional distance of about 13 hydraulic diameters. Latent effects and deposition kinetics are not included. The resulting dataset provides a verified reference upon which dissolved-wax transport and wall-layer growth will be coupled and validated.
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