Simulation study on magnetic and acoustic dual effect for oil pipeline blockage removal

Abstract

Most crude oils in China have high wax content and high freezing point. During pipeline transportation, with the decrease of temperature, wax crystals continuously precipitate on the pipe wall, and even block the pipeline in serious cases, which has become a long-term problem troubling the production and transportation of crude oil. In this paper, a dual-effect magneto-acoustic plugging removal solution is proposed, and a plugging model based on ultrasonic wave and electromagnetic viscosition-reducing is built. In addition, the multi-physics simulation software COMSOL Multiphysics is used for simulation to determine the optimal parameters. The ultrasonic frequency is 20kHz, the power is 10kW viscosity reduction effect is the best; simulation was carried out for different coil turns and currents. The optimized parameters were determined as 900 coil turns and 5A excitation current. Analyzing the sequence of ultrasonic and electromagnetic action, it is concluded that the viscosity reduction effect of ultrasonic and electromagnetic action is better than that of electromagnetic and ultrasonic action.