Updated CO₂/H₂S internal corrosion model of natural gas pipelines based on flow field calculations

Abstract

The ‘A line’ of the Sichuan Natural Gas East Transportation in China was used as the subject of the study, and an existing CO₂/H₂S corrosion model was utilised to predict the uniform corrosion rate. Then, the flow parameters were simulated by computational fluid dynamics based on turbulence theory, and the influence on the corrosion rate of the pipeline was analysed in a detail to more accurately describe the corrosion problems of natural gas pipelines that contain CO₂/H₂S. After that, an updated CO₂/H₂S corrosion model under the influence of flow filed was proposed by modifying the existing CO₂/H₂S corrosion model. The actual condition was calculated by the updated CO₂/H₂S corrosion model. Results show that flow parameters, namely, velocity, turbulent kinetic energy and phase distribution, affect pipeline corrosion. The flow parameters did not change significantly at the small scale changes in the pipeline (5 and 15°) of a broad and smooth flow channel of the large diameter gas transport pipeline. The shape of corrosion often appears in the form of an elliptical sheet. The corrosion location and the corrosion rate calculated by the updated model are consistent with the wall thickness detection data in the site conditions, which verified that the updated CO₂/H₂S corrosion model is valid. The updated CO₂/H₂S corrosion model influenced by the flow field can predict the corrosion distribution and the corrosion rate of the three-dimensional key positions in natural gas pipelines.

Keywords:

• CO₂/H₂S corrosion model
• Corrosion rate
• Flow field
• Computational fluid dynamics
• Pipelines

Acknowledgement

The project is supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (grant no. 2012AA040105).