INTRODUCTION TO OLGA

Contents
• Introduction
• Physical models and numerical solutions
• Network topology
• How to make fluids flow
• Fluid properties
• Heat transfer
• Process equipment and modules
• File structure and execution
Fundamental features

• OLGA is
– transient ( df/dt # 0 )
– one-dimensional (along pipe axis)
– “complete”
– a modified “two-fluid” model
– realised with a semi-implicit numerical solution
• staggered grid
– made for (relatively) slow mass transients
The dynamic three phase flow simulator

8 Conserv. Equations Closure Laws

mass (5) Fluid mass transf.
momentum (2) Properties momentum transf.
energy (1) energy transf.

Boundary Initial
Conditions Conditions

OLGA
The OLGA Three-phase Flow Model
• Mass conservation
– Gas
– Hydrocarbon bulk
– Hydrocarbon droplets
– Water bulk
– Water droplets
• Momentum conservation
– Gas + droplets
– Liquid bulk
• Energy conservation
– Mixture (only one temperature)
• Constitutive equations
Variables
• Primary variables
– 5 mass fractions (specific mass)
– 2 velocities
– 1 pressure
– 1 temperature
• Secondary variables
– Volume fractions
– Velocities
– Flow rates
– Fluid properties
– etc.
Conservation of mass
 Conservation of energy

energy = mass ⋅ (thermal energy + kinetic energy + potential energy)spec

energy flow + work = mass flow ⋅ (enthalpy + kinetic energy + potential energy)
 Force balance equation
(Conservation of momentum)
Pj Pj+1

gas
liquid
j j+1
dZj

dM /dt = ((M·V )j - (M·V )j+1) /dzj - S j + G j + F j + F j+1+ MT

M - Momentum S = Shear = wall shear + interfacial shear
V - Velocity G= Gravity = m · gravity acceleration
m - Mass F = Force = pressure · flow area
M = m ·V MT = Momentum Transfer =
mass transfer - entrainment + deposition
 Sources of numerical errors in general

• Linearization of strongly non-linear models

– Iteration is not performed
• Thermal expansion or contraction
– Temperature decoupled from pressure may give
volume errors
• Local changes of total composition neglected in standard
OLGA*)
– may give volume errors

*)Taken into account in CompTrack

Volume error
At each time step when all equations have been solved the
net fluid volume change in each section usually is ≠ 0
and the volume error can be expressed as

VOLi = 1- Σ Vi f / Vsectioni ≠ 0
f
Vi f = mif /ρi f
Vi f = fluid volume in section no i
mi f = mass in pipe section no i
ρi f = density of fluid in section no i
(f indicates liquid , gas and droplets)
(VOL is an output variable which should be plotted
together with phase velocities during fast transients)
Modeling the pipeline profile in OLGA
OLGA topology

• GEOMETRY is a sequence of PIPES

– a PIPE is defined by its
• LENGTH
• INCLINATION
• INNER DIAMETER
• ROUGHNESS and
• WALL
OLGA topology cont.

NODE-1
a BRANCH consists of one NODE-2
GEOMETRY and two NODES

a BRANCH has flow direction

OLGA topology cont.

a NODE is either TERMINAL or INTERNAL *)

An OLGA network consists of a number of BRANCHES

*) MERGING or SPLITTING
OLGA topology cont.
PIPE_4
1
Boundary
variables 2 3

2 PIPE_3
PIPE_1

1
PIPE SECTIONS

PIPE_2 2

1
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
Volume
variables
PIPE SECTION BOUNDARIES
OLGA topology cont. PIPE_4
1

2 3
Volume variables e.g. 2 PIPE_3
Pressure (PT)
Temperature (TM) 1
Volume fractions (HOL)
PIPE_1 PIPE_2 2

1
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
Volume variables calculated in section
mid-points
 OLGA topology cont.
PIPE_4
1
Boundary variables e.g.
Velocities 2 3
Flow-rates
2 PIPE_3
Flow-pattern
1

PIPE_1 PIPE_2 2

1
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
Boundary variables are
Valves are always located on calculated on section
section boundaries boundaries
 OLGA topology cont.

a TERMINAL NODE is
either type ”CLOSED” –
i.e. no flow across node
or of type
”PRESSURE” –i.e. flow
across the node.
OLGA topology cont.

Pressure
node

You must specify:

- Pressure,
- Temperature, Generally:
- Gas Mass Fraction
- Water Mass Fraction flow in both
directions
How to make fluids flow

• a mass SOURCE
• pressure boundaries
• the standard WELL
 a mass SOURCE

NODE TYPE = CLOSED

OLGA calculates this P and T

NODE
A mass source into the pipe TYPE =
You must specify it’s PRESSURE
Total mass rate
Temperature
Gas mass fraction
Water fraction
 mass SOURCE cont.

• a SOURCE feeds its mass regardless of the pressure in the pipe

• a SOURCE can be positioned in any pipe section

• one pipe section can have several SOURCES

• a SOURCE can be negative (a sink)

 a negative SOURCE

NODE TYPE = CLOSED

NODE TYPE =
PRESSURE

OLGA calc. this P

a mass source out of the pipe SOURCE-out

 two PRESSURE NODES

NODE TYPE =
NODE TYPE = PRESSURE
PRESSURE

Pin Pout

Pin > Pout

Pin Pout
Pin < Pout
a WELL
NODE NODE
TYPE = CLOSED TYPE = PRESSURE

Reservoir P & T
WELL-1 PI (productivity index)
Pres Injection index
Gas mass fraction
Water fraction
a WELL cont.
• a WELL is essentially a pressure NODE
• fluid flows into the well when the bottom hole pressure
is less than the reservoir pressure
• a WELL can be positioned anywhere along a pipe
• a pipe can have several WELLs
• the Advanced Well Module provides numerous
additional options.
 Starting the dynamic calculation sequence

Conditions at t = 0 must be available.

They can either be
calculated from user
calculated by the given
OLGA Steady State OR BE Initial Conditions:
pre-processor i.e. profiles of T, P,
mass flow,
gas volume fraction,
water cut
 Steady State pre-processor
• Activated when setting STEADYSTATE = ON in mainkey
OPTIONS
• Gives a full steady state solution at time 0
(STARTTIME = ENDTIME = 0 in INTEGRATION gives
only the steady state solution)
• The subsequent dynamic simulation will tell you
if the system is stable or not

0 time
Basic wall heat transfer in OLGA
• Standard heat transfer correlations
• Averaged fluid properties
• Radial heat conduction in pipe walls -
symmetrical around pipe axis
• OLGA calculates heat accumulation in the pipe walls
as well as heat conduction through walls
Tambient

Tambient Tfluid Tambient

Tambient
How to represent pipe walls in OLGA

For each wall MATERIAL you specify

> Density
> Cp
> Thermal conductivity.

For improved accuracy you should

Tfluid specify several layers for each
Tws material layer.
For each WALL you specify
sequences of
MATERIAL and the thickness of each
Tambient layer -starting with the innermost layer
Heat transfer cont.
• Conduction through pipe walls
– Assumptions
• One dimensional radial heat conduction
(axial conduction not accounted for)
an example
PIPE_4

PIPE_3

Numerical PIPE
SECTIONS
PIPE_2

1 2 3 4

PIPE_1
Axial specification of pipe walls in OLGA

PIPE-1 PIPE-2 PIPE-3 PIPE-n

WALL-a global PIPE-1 PIPE-2 PIPE-3

WALL-1 WALL-2 WALL-3

detailed
PIPE-1 PIPE-2 PIPE-3 PIPE-n

WALL-a WALL-B WALL-a

global with
exception(s)
 Axial specification of pipe ambient conditions in
OLGA

Pipe ambient heat transfer parameters may

be specified on 4 levels:
• Global i.e. entire network
• Branch-wise
• Pipe-wise
• Section-wise
Axial specification of pipe ambient conditions in OLGA

e.g.: exception for PIPE-2 of BRANCH B-2

PIPE-1 PIPE-2 PIPE-3 PIPE-n

Tamb-B-22
Vair-B-22
Axial specification of pipe ambient conditions in OLGA
e.g. exceptions for
Sections 1 and 2 of PIPE-1 of BRANCH B-3

PIPE-1

Section#1 Section#2 Section#3

Vwater-311 Vwater-312
Temperatures when walls are specified:
You need to specify: Tambient and the outer wall heat
transfer coefficient, directly or indirectly by a fluid velocity.
The temperature in the fluid and in each wall layer
Tfluid is calculated by solving the general heat
Tws transfer equations:
Applicable for transients ∂T
ρ ⋅ Cp = λ∇ 2T
Tambient
as well as for steady state. ∂t
qi = h i ( T ws − T fluid )
Inner wall heat transfer
coefficient. Calculated
by standard correlations.
Inner wall
surface Assuming one temperature
temperature for the fluid mixture.
Overall heat transfer coefficient; the U-value:

You only need to specify: Tambient and U-value

Tfluid OLGA calculates: Tfluid
Then the heat flux is:
Tambient
q = U(Tambient -Tfluid) (W/m)

U-value assumed to be specified wrt.

inner pipe diameter.
Only applicable for steady state.
Fluid properties with standard OLGA
General

• The fluid properties are pre-calculated tables as a

function of P and T and for one fluid composition
– It follows that the total composition is constant
throughout a fluid table1)

• The exact value of a fluid property for a given P and T

is found by interpolating in the relevant property table

1)The Compositional Tracking module

allows for detailed fluid description as
function of time and position.
Restrictions - limitations with fluid tables
Total composition is assumed constant for one fluid table.
– the solution is accurate for steady state co-current flow.
– It is more approximate in case of local phase separation, local
mixing and varying sources of different compositions

Flowline has
Well A has fluid properties ?
Fluid Table 1
Well B has
Fluid Table 2
Compositional Tracking is required in practical
applications when…

During a shut-in, fluid re-distribution causes local

composition changes.
 Compositional Tracking is required in practical
350
applications when…
At steady state flow conditions
300 gas phase is at its dew point
oil phase is at its bubble point
250

After e.g. shutdown – oil and gas

200 segregates and P and T changes
locally
150

flowing total composition

e.g.oil above its bubble point
100 oil phase
gas phase
gas in its retrograde area
50

0
-50 50 150 250 350 450 550 650
Black-Oil Module

• Tracks Black-oil components (oil, gas and water) described

by a minimum of information:
– Specific Gravity of of the oil and gas components
– Gas/Oil ratio or equivalent
• With water
– Specific gravity of the water
– Salinity
– Watercut
• Water is assumed to be inert
– no water vapor and no hydrocarbons in liquid water
Properties in the fluid tables
More on Rs: the gas mass fraction
mass of gas at P and T
Rs =
mass of gas + HC-liquid at P and T

e.g. local mass transfer from oil to gas:

mtotHC* in sec tion ΔRs

ψ= (kg / m3s)
Vof sec tion Δt

• thus: Rs (P,T) = constant gives no mass transfer

*includes water vapor in gas

Process equipment with OLGA basic
• Separators
• Compressors
• Heat exchangers
• Chokes and Valves (CV)
- critical, sub-critical
• Check valves
• Controllers
PID,PSV,ESD etc.
• Controlled sources and leaks
• Pig/plug
• Heated walls
OLGA Modules
• Water
– three-phase flow
• Slugtracking
– also with water
• FEM -Therm
– conductive 2-D (“radial”) heat transfer
– integrated with OLGA bundle
– grid generator
• CompTrack
– compositional tracking
• MEG-track
– allows for hydrate check as function of MEG
conc.
OLGA Modules cont.
• Advanced Well
– including gas-lift valves and drilling
functions
• UBitTS
– under Balanced interactive transient
Training Simulator
• Multiphase Pumps
– positive displacement
– rotodynamic
• Corrosion
• Wax
– with pigging
 OLGA files
is reflex of the Input File +
.out
results from OUTPUT
Input File OLGA
Trend Plot File
.tpl
results from TREND

.ppl Profile Plot File

results from PROFILE

Animation Plot File

Fluid Properties File .plt
results from PLOT
.tab
.rsw Restart File
OUTPUT

extract of the
.out file
TREND

Liquid volume
flow as function
of time at a
specific position
PROFILE Profiles of P and
hold-up for a
flow-line-riser at
t=0
PLOT

Liquid Hold-up
as function of
time along the
flowline-riser-
animation by
OLGA-viewer
OLGA execution

.out
OLGA OLGA
GUI simulator
.tpl

Input File
.ppl

Fluid Properties File .plt

PVTsim .tab

.rsw