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Smart simulation extended to include three-phase flow and more

| By Gerald Ondrey

PSRE Co. (Piping System Research & Engineering Co.; Moscow, Russia; www.truboprovod.ru), a leading developer of smart simulation and sizing tools for every piping and equipment engineer/designer, is pleased to announce the new version 4.1 of PASS/HYDROSYSTEM scheduled for release beginning of October 2018. This new version contains two big improvements, which are expected to considerably extend the applicability of this versatile simulation and sizing solution helping users to efficiently design complex piping systems that meet all requirements while minimizing design and operational cost.

First, PASS/HYDROSYSTEM users can now analyze three-phase gas/oil/water flow typical for oil and gas field piping systems, including automatic calculation of flow rates for each phase in any part of a complex piping network. To enable this, PASS/HYDROSYSTEM takes into account the mixing of three-phase flows with different phase flowrates. Preserving its renowned ease- of-use and affordability, the PASS/HYDROSYSTEM GUI has been extended to provide different convenient options for setting each phase flow rate at source (oil well) nodes.

In this new version, gas/oil/water flow is analyzed as two-phase gas/liquid flow whereby the liquid oil/water emulsion is simulated using the HEM model for density and Brinkman – Roscoe generalization of the Einstein formula for viscosity. The program monitors inversion points and defines which type of emulsion takes place in each specific part of the piping network – water in oil or oil in water.

Further, integration of the new TUFFP Unified Model Library for three-phase flow occurs as soon as this library is ready for usage – currently expected during 4Q 2018 – 1Q 2019.

The second important improvement allows analyzing and optimizing piping networks containing multiple arbitrary control valves, orifices or other elements with controlled parameters. The parameter selection feature initially introduced in version 3.88 is now capable to support any number of parameters. Unlimited parameters in connection with a modern, derivative-free optimization method (by Powell) enables PASS/HYDROSYSTEM users find optimal combinations of valves and orifices parameters for complex piping networks.

This new PASS/HYDROSYSTEM version will be demonstrated at the PSRE Co booth during the 34th International CAE Conference and Exhibition (8–9 October 2018; Vicenza, Italy).