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Online monitoring of wax deposition in sub-sea pipelines

Article  in  Measurement Science and Technology · May 2011

DOI: 10.1088/0957-0233/22/7/075701

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IOP PUBLISHING MEASUREMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Meas. Sci. Technol. 22 (2011) 075701 (13pp) doi:10.1088/0957-0233/22/7/075701

Online monitoring of wax deposition in

sub-sea pipelines
R Hoffmann1 , L Amundsen1 and R Schüller2
1
Statoil ASA, Research Centre Porsgrunn, Porsgrunn, Norway
2
Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway
E-mail: rahof@statoil.com

Received 15 September 2010, in final form 24 March 2011

Published 20 May 2011
Online at stacks.iop.org/MST/22/075701

Abstract
This paper describes a new technology (heat pulse wax monitoring) to monitor wax deposition
in sub-sea pipelines continuously. The equipment that has been tested in a lab rig consists of a
heating element and a temperature sensor which are installed at a fixed point on the oil pipe.
By applying a short external heat pulse to the oil pipe, a correlation between the measured
transient thermal response and the wax thickness could be derived. If such a system could also
be installed in a sub-sea pipeline, it would make continuous measuring of the wax build-up
possible. This would in turn allow for a much more efficient use of wax control techniques, by
e.g. sending a pig only when a certain thickness threshold has been passed. The equipment in
this technology is located outside the pipeline, so that it becomes possible to retrofit it to an
existing pipeline. To test the technology, a numerical model was derived to correlate the wax
thickness with the thermal readings from the heat pulse wax monitoring. This model was
validated using the results from a single-phase flow experimental campaign using a North Sea
waxy gas condensate in the Porsgrunn wax deposition test rig. In this experimental campaign,
wax deposition experiments were carried out with different flow rates and temperatures. The
wax thickness predictions from the heat pulse wax monitoring compared favourably with
conventional measurement techniques.

Keywords: wax deposition, thermal response, oil pipeline

(Some figures in this article are in colour only in the electronic version)

1. Introduction
Wax deposition in sub-sea pipelines poses several operational
problems, and it has been studied by several authors
[1, 4, 5, 14, 15, 23, 27, 31, 32, 35]. It is not just a question
of which wax control technique to apply. Pigging is most
often the technology of choice. But the question is also about
when and how often to remove wax by pigging. If the pigging
frequency is set too high, the corresponding costs will also be
unnecessarily high. This problem will increase in the future
since the extensive use of sub-sea tie-ins and the associated
sub-sea pig launching involves significantly higher costs per
pigging operation. Even worse, if pigs are sent too seldom, the
risk is that the wax deposit may become too thick, leading to a
stuck pig with all the corresponding undesirable consequences.
Ideally the wax thickness should therefore be measured online
and continuously in the pipe to decide when to start the next
pigging operation (pigging-on-time).
Different methods for the detection of wax or deposit
have been developed, e.g. cold finger [16], electric resistance
[10], radiography [17, 22], ultrasound and strain gauges
[34], tomographic techniques [2], heat transfer techniques
[13] and the use of pressure pulses [20]. Thermal wave
processing [19] and thermal methods used in relation to non-
destructive testing [24] may have potential for the detection
of waxy deposits in pipes. Advanced domain photothermal
reconstruction techniques [28] have been developed to detect
defects or changes in materials. Temperature oscillation
methods have also been developed in relation to heat transfer
in heat exchangers [18, 28, 29] to detect and monitor
fouling of the heat transfer surfaces. Characterization of the
thermophysical properties of materials or material thicknesses

0957-0233/11/075701+13$33.00 1 © 2011 IOP Publishing Ltd Printed in the UK & the USA
Meas. Sci. Technol. 22 (2011) 075701
Figure 1. Basic layout for a production pipeline.
is important in relation to the modelling of deposition, and
applicable methods are the 3-ω method [11, 30], hot-wire
techniques [3, 33], frequency methods [7] and flash methods
[6, 8, 9, 12, 25].
Measuring the wax deposition at only one point is of
course not the same as measuring the whole profile along the
line. However, the validation work of the currently available
wax deposition models (see [4, 23, 31]) has shown that
these models are already quite good at predicting the relative
influence of varying temperatures on wax deposition. Along
a pipeline the temperature varies, and the mass flow rate is
obviously constant. So the curve shape of the wax thickness
profile along the line that is predicted by the deposition models
can be assumed to be correct. What is missing is the absolute
scaling of this profile. This scaling can be provided by
continuously measuring the wax thickness at one point, e.g.
by the heat pulse wax monitoring technology. Currently there
is no online wax thickness measurement technique available.
However, the wax thickness profile can be measured along
the whole pipe using the pressure pulse technique [20]. The
drawback of this technique is that there is a high degree of
uncertainty associated with the results and that carrying out
a measurement is a complex and expensive procedure. This
excludes the technique from being used on a continuous basis.
Another option would be to simulate wax deposition and
use these simulation results as a basis for the determination
of the pigging frequency. Unfortunately the current wax
deposition models still have severe deficiencies leading to an
unsatisfactory disagreement between model predictions and
experimental results (see e.g. [1, 4, 23]). Although work is
ongoing to improve these models, it seems unlikely that the
model predictions will be satisfactory in the near future.
Therefore R&D work is ongoing to develop other
technologies that could provide online information about the
wax thickness in a production pipeline. One technology
that has been developed at Statoil’s Research Centre
Porsgrunn is called the heat pulse wax monitoring technology.
The equipment consists of a heating element and a temperature
sensor which are installed at a fixed point on the pipeline,
preferably where most wax deposition occurs. By applying
a short external heat pulse to the pipeline and measuring the
transient thermal response, the wax thickness can be derived.
This paper describes the results of an experimental
campaign in a single-phase wax deposition test rig where
the heat pulse wax monitoring technology was tested under
different conditions (temperatures, flow rates). In addition, a
model will be presented that was developed to simulate the
2
R Hoffmann et al
Figure 2. Example measurement.
heat pulse equipment and predict the wax thickness from the
measurement results.
2. Heat pulse wax monitoring technique
2.1. Idea
2.1.1. Single-phase flow. The heat pulse wax monitoring
technique exploits the fact that a wax layer on the inner pipe
wall acts as a thermal insulation. The measurement equipment
consists of a heat source, e.g. an electric heating element, and a
temperature sensor. The basic layout for a production pipeline
is shown in figure 1: the heating element is placed between
the steel wall and the insulation. The temperature sensor is
placed on the outer steel wall.
To measure the wax thickness, the heating element is
switched on for a short time (heat pulse) and then switched off.
Figure 2 shows the (simulated) response that the temperature
sensor registers. Five cases have been simulated with wax
thicknesses ranging from 0 to 1 mm.
While the heating element is switched on, the generated
heat is mainly warming up the steel wall. The switch-on time
(30 s in the example in figure 2) is so short that almost no
heat dissipates further than the inner steel wall. Therefore
the registered temperature increase during the switch-on
period is almost identical for all the curves independent of
the wax thickness. However, when the heating element is
switched off, the heat stored in the steel wall will eventually
dissipate through the wax layer towards the oil flow. A small
percentage will also dissipate through the insulation towards
the surrounding water but that is comparatively small since
the insulating properties of the pipe insulation are well below
those of the corresponding insulation of the wax layer. In
effect, this means that almost all heat that has been generated
during the switch-on period and is stored in the steel wall needs
to dissipate through the wax layer.
Therefore even small changes of the wax layer thickness
will influence the decay time constant registered by the
Meas. Sci. Technol. 22 (2011) 075701
Figure 3. Extended layout with calibration for multiphase flow.
temperature sensor. In the example shown in figure 2, the
temperature Tmeasurement registered at a constant time tmeasurement
after the switch-off differs by 5 ◦ C for an increase in the wax
thickness of 1 mm. This means that commercially available
temperature sensors with an accuracy of typically 0.1 ◦ C
should easily pick up small changes in the wax thickness.
2.1.2. Multiphase flow. Calculating the wax thickness
from the temperature response depends on knowing all the
parameters of the heat flux resistance chain from the heating
element to the fluid flow. This chain consists of a steel wall,
wax deposit and a thermal boundary layer from the wax deposit
to the bulk fluid flow. The heat transfer through the thermal
boundary layer is well known for a single-phase turbulent
flow where correlations with sufficient accuracy are available.
For a multiphase flow with its wealth of flow phenomena, the
situation is entirely different so that the heat transfer coefficient
through the thermal boundary layer is an additional unknown,
which might even vary over time. To compensate for this,
the original layout in figure 1 can be extended as shown in
figure 3.
To determine the heat transfer coefficient for the
multiphase flow in the pipe, a second identical measurement
configuration is added. The difference is that the second
heating element is used not only for the measurement but
also for removing wax on the inner pipe wall (by periodically
heating to such a degree that all wax is removed). If all wax
is removed prior to the measurement heat pulse the heat flux
resistance chain will consist only of the well-known steel wall
and the thermal boundary layer. In that way the heat transfer
coefficient can be determined online by the second sensor.
The result is then used to determine the wax thickness from
the measurements of the first sensor.
Figure 4. Heat pulse wax monitoring sections (left) and heating elements (right).
3
R Hoffmann et al
2.2. Implementation in the Porsgrunn wax deposition test rig
The wax deposition test rig at Statoil’s Research Centre
Porsgrunn, Norway, is used for both research on fundamental
issues regarding wax deposition and the development of
new techniques regarding wax control. The rig and its
instrumentation have been described at length in [23]. Like
in most other wax deposition test rigs, oil is circulated at a
constant temperature through a test section. The section is
surrounded by an annulus where a cooling medium (water
in our case) is circulated to ensure a constant cold outer
wall temperature simulating the sub-sea conditions. The
resulting temperature gradient from the oil bulk flow to
the inner pipe wall induces wax deposition. To test the heat
pulse wax monitoring technique, two shorter sections with
electric heating elements and thermocouples were integrated
in the test section.
Figure 4 (left) shows the two sections from the outside.
The flanges are used only for better accessibility during
the assembly process. Figure 4 (right) shows the heating
element around the oil pipe before it is mounted inside the
test section.
Both sections are built identically. One of the two sections
can be used as a wax-free calibration section as explained
above (see figure 3).
The geometry of the heat pulse measurement sections
is shown in figure 5 (right): five thermocouples are placed
around one-half of the oil pipe. The reason for having five
thermocouples around the circumference is to investigate the
different thermal behaviour in the planned multiphase flow
experiments. In the current single-phase flow experiments, all
thermocouples should show the same readings.
The thermocouples used are type K, Inconel sheath,
1 mm in diameter. They are placed in small (1 mm deep)
grooves on the outside of the oil pipe and are soldered to
ensure optimal thermal contact (see figure 5 (left)). Around
the thermocouples, a 1 mm brass sheet is applied to smooth the
axial heat distribution. Finally the heating element is clamped
around the brass sheet. These heating elements were supplied
by Electrolux and have an electric power of 1500 W each.
They have an axial length of 43 mm and are built to fit tightly
around the oil pipe.
2.3. Model of the heat pulse measurement process
In the following section, a model will be developed to
numerically simulate the heat pulse measurement process. A
2-inch
Meas. Sci. Technol. 22 (2011) 075701 R Hoffmann et al

Soldered thermo-
couples in grooves

Oil pipe (ID 2-inch)

Thermo-
couples

Steel
pipe
(3.9 mm)
Brass
sheet
(1 mm) Heater
element
(8 mm)

Figure 5. Heat pulse measurement sections—geometry.

correct model is essential for calculating the wax thickness cpoil ηoil
P roil =
from a measured temperature response. The correctness of koil
the model will be verified by comparing the model predictions ṁoil Qoil
with the measurements in the wax rig. voil = 2 π
= 2 π
ρDoil 4
D oil 4

2.3.1. 1D steady-state model. The wax deposition test rig where ksteel , kwax and koil are the thermal conductivities of steel,
differs from a production pipeline in two aspects: first there wax and oil, respectively. dsteel and dwax are the thicknesses of
is no insulation layer around the heating element since the steel and wax. Doil is the diameter of the oil pipe. Reoil and
purpose of the rig is to have a maximum cooling in order to Proil are the Reynolds and Prandtl numbers of the turbulent oil
achieve rapid wax deposition. Secondly, the water is not free flow. ρoil , ηoil and cpoil are the density, viscosity and specific
flowing but externally driven, which results in a much more heat capacity of oil, respectively. The heat flow towards the
efficient heat transfer through the thermal boundary layer. In water Q̇water is given likewise by
combination this means that a much higher percentage of the
total heat flux dissipates into the water flow and is lost for Q̇water (t) = Uwater A (Tcable − Twater ) . (7)
the wax monitoring. Therefore the wax rig needs a much For a smooth surface from the heating cable to the water
stronger heat source compared to a production pipe of the
flow, Uwater could simply be described by a film coefficient
same dimensions.
hfilmwater in the same way as hfilmoil was derived above (6):
The heat from an electric heating element around the steel
pipe Pel will be split into a flow towards the water Q̇water and kwater
hfilmwater = 0.023Re0.8 0.33
water Prwater
a flow towards the oil Q̇oil : Dwaterinner
Pel = Q̇water + Q̇oil . (1) ρwater vwater Dwatereff
Rewater =
ηwater
The heat flow towards the oil Q̇oil is given by cpwater ηwater
Prwater =
Q̇oil (t) = Uoil A (Tcable − Toil ) , (2) kwater
where the total heat transfer coefficient Uoil is determined by 4ṁwater
vwater = ¡ 2 2
¢
the heat transfer through steel hsteel , wax hwax and the thermal ρwater π Dwaterouter − Dwater inner
boundary layer hfilmoil of the oil flow. Tcable is the temperature
¡ ¢
2 2
¡ 2 2
¢ Dwaterouter
−Dwater inner
in the heating cable and Toil is the temperature in the bulk oil Dwaterouter + Dwaterinner − D
ln Dwaterouter
waterinner
flow: Dwatereff = .
Dwaterouter − Dwaterinner
1 1 1 1
= + + (3)
Uoil hfilmoil hsteel hwax The only change is that the water flow is annular which
necessitates the use of an efficient diameter Dwatereff .
2ksteel
hsteel = Doil +2dwax +2dsteel
(4) In fact, however, the heating element has a complex non-
Doil ln Doil +2dwax smooth geometry which violates the preconditions for the
2kwax use of the film coefficient hfilmwater . To take account of these
hwax = (5) geometrical effects, an additional factor cgeom is introduced:
Doil ln DoilD+2d
oil
wax

Uwater = cgeom hfilmwater .

koil
hfilmoil = 0.023Re0.8 0.33
oil Proil (6)
Doil The factor cgeom will be determined experimentally later on
ρoil voil Doil by measuring the ratio between Q̇oil and Q̇water for a wax-free
Reoil =
ηoil pipe, which leaves cgeom as the only unknown parameter.

4
Meas. Sci. Technol. 22 (2011) 075701 R Hoffmann et al

Water flow Ceramics (8mm)

Qwater Brass (1mm) Pel

Steel (3.9mm) Uwater
Heating element

Wax Temperature

Qoil Steel (1mm)

sensor

Wax Uoil

Oil flow Figure 7. 2D FEM model of the wax rig.

Table 1. PDE material constants.

Figure 6. Heat flux in the single-phase test rig.
Heating Wax
Ceramics element Brass Steel layer
2.3.2. 2D axisymmetric transient model. Deriving and
solving these equations for the steady-state case is fairly easy. Density ρCeramics ρheating-element ρBrass ρsteel ρwax
However to determine the transient solution that is relevant Heat capacity CpCeramics Cpheating-element CpBrass Cpsteel Cpwax
for the heat pulse measurement process, a partial differential Thermal
conductivity kCeramics kheating-element kBrass ksteel kwax
equation (PDE) needs to be solved for all domains (insulation, Heat source 0 Pelectric 0 0 0
heating element, steel, wax) simultaneously:
dT
ρCp − ∇ (k∇T ) = Q, (8) Table 2. Coefficients for solid/fluid boundary conditions.
dt
where ρ is the density, Cp is the heat capacity, k is the thermal h Tfluid
conductivity and Q is the heat source. Water flow Uwater Twater
In addition, the correct boundary conditions at the Oil flow Uoil Toil
solid/fluid interfaces have to be maintained. With the
assumption of constant water and constant oil temperatures
(independent of the heat pulse), this boundary condition is The boundary condition for the interior boundaries
k∇T = h (Tfluid − T ) ; (9) between the four layers is continuity, which means that the
heat flux in the normal direction is continuous across the
here, h (Tfluid − T ) models convective heat transfer with the boundary. The temperature is naturally continuous on an
neighbouring fluid, where h is the heat transfer coefficient and internal boundary following the continuity of the finite element
Tfluid is the fluid bulk temperature. field. The coefficients for the external boundary condition
The system of equations (8) and (9) cannot be solved
analytically any longer. A commercial PDE solver (Comsol k∇T = h (Tfluid − T ) (11)
Multiphysics 3.5) is therefore used to model the system and are specified in table 2.
solve the equations.
In addition, the assumption for a 1D model as shown in 2.4. Physical parameters
figure 6 was that the heating element has an axial dimension
that is so long that all edge effects, i.e. the axial dissipation of In this section, the actual values for the various constants used
heat in the steel and brass layer, can be neglected. Simulations in the model derived in the previous section are reported.
have shown that from an axial length of around 16–20 cm, the
temperature profile starts to flatten out, which means that edge 2.4.1. Oil flow. The experimental campaign has been
effects can be neglected in the centre of the heating element. performed with a North Sea waxy gas condensate. The oil
So for the calculations of a heating element longer than this flows through the 2 inch test section (Doil = 52.5 mm)
size, a simplified 1D model can be used, whereas for a short with flow rates in the range of Qoil = 2–25 m3 h−1 .
heating element as was implemented in the wax rig (4 cm The oil’s inlet temperature can be adjusted in the range
length), a more complex 2D axisymmetric FEM model needs of Toil = 10 ◦ C–60 ◦ C.
to be employed. The measurement of the (temperature-dependent)
Figure 7 shows the 2D axisymmetric model used. The material properties, density ρoil and viscosity ηoil , has been
four windings of the heating element are represented in their described in [23]. The outstanding material properties are
correct geometry: in the centre of the heating element runs an the thermal properties: heat capacity Cpoil and thermal
aluminium core (D = 1 mm) where the actual heat generation conductivity koil . These are determined using a Hot Disk
takes place. Around that core is a ceramics shell (D = 8 mm). TPS 2500 S unit. The transient plane source (TPS) technique
The model’s PDE coefficients for is designed for convenient thermal conductivity and thermal
dT diffusivity measurements on various sample types [21].
ρCp − ∇ (k∇T ) = Q (10)
dt In the TPS technique, the probe comprises a flat sensor
are set according to the material constants (see table 1). The with a continuous double spiral of electrically conducting
measurement procedure and the resulting values for all model nickel (Ni) metal etched out of a thin foil and sandwiched
constants are reported in section 2.4. between two layers of Kapton. The sensor is normally

5
Meas. Sci. Technol. 22 (2011) 075701 R Hoffmann et al

0.22
Gas condensate
Decane literature 2.4
0.2

Heat conductivity [W/m K]

2.2

Heat capacity [kJ/kg K]

0.18 2

1.8
0.16
1.6

0.14 1.4

1.2
0.12
1
WAT
0.1 0.8
−20 0 20 40 60 −20 0 20 40 60
Temperature [°C] Temperature [°C]

Figure 8. Condensate thermal properties.

placed between the surfaces of two pieces of the sample to Table 3. Wax deposit properties.
be measured. Wax Thermal Heat
During measurement, a current passes through the nickel content Density conductivity capacity
and creates an increase in temperature. The heat generated ρ (kg m−3 ) k (W m−1 K−1 ) cp (J kg−1 K−1 )
dissipates through the sample on either side at a rate dependent
Q= 18% 886 0.183 2031
on the thermal transport characteristics of the material. By 5 m3 h−1
recording the temperature versus time response in the sensor, Q= 33% 899 0.227 1648
these characteristics can accurately be calculated. 21 m3 h−1
The heat properties of the condensate have been measured Average 893 0.205 1839
at a range of temperatures from −20 to 60 ◦ C (see
figure 8). The measurements were performed in a temperature 2.4.2. Wax, steel pipe and brass sheet. Since the
bath where the condensate was first heated up to 60 ◦ C to composition of wax deposits is highly dependent on
dissolve all wax and then cooled down to −20 ◦ C while taking the experimental conditions, it is to be expected that also the
measurements at the sample points. material properties will vary accordingly. Therefore two wax
Obviously there is a sharp change in the thermal properties deposition experiments were performed, one with a very high
at around T = 30 ◦ C (see figure 8), which corresponds to flow rate (Q = 21 m3 h−1 ) and one with a very low flow
the measured wax appearance temperature (WAT) TWAT = rate (Q = 5 m3 h−1 ). The wax samples from these two
30.1 ◦ C. This is quite interesting and should further be experiments are assumed to represent the extremes and most
investigated as it might constitute a new technique to determine other samples should lie in-between these two. For these two
the WAT. Most of the other WAT measurement techniques do samples the density (using a Micromeritics AccuPyc 1330
not show such a sharp distinction. pycnometer) and thermal properties were determined (see
The problem with these measurements is the comparison table 3). The standard deviations for these measurement
with the table values found in the literature [26] for decane techniques are ±15% for the wax content, ±1% for the density,
(the heaviest iso-alkane for which the literature values were ±1% for the thermal conductivity and ±3% for the heat
available). Although the condensate is of course a blend capacity.
of hydrocarbons with very different molecular weight, there The experiment with the high flow rate resulted in a harder
wax deposit which means a higher content of solid wax and
is no reason why the qualitative behaviour of its thermal
less liquid oil. Correspondingly the density for this sample is
properties should be different from pure iso-alkanes. This
higher, as is the thermal conductivity (since solids can conduct
should especially be true for temperatures above the WAT
heat more efficiently than liquids), whereas the heat capacity is
where all wax is dissolved and the condensate should
lower (since solids can store heat less efficiently than liquids).
behave like a non-waxy oil. However as can be seen from For most of the calculations, the average of the two samples
figure 8, decane shows a slight decline in the measured thermal was used as a model input. In addition, section 4 includes an
conductivity while the condensate shows a sharp incline. analysis of the method’s sensitivity to variations in the wax
The most plausible explanation is that the measurement properties.
procedure of using the HotDisk sensor in a large temperature The steel for the oil pipe is standard stainless steel with
bath introduced convection which resulted in a much higher a thickness of dsteel = 3.9 mm. The thermal properties
apparent thermal conductivity than the fluid itself shows. were measured using the HotDisk equipment: cpsteel =
For future measurements a different setup with very small 500 J kg−1 K−1 , ksteel = 50 W m−1 K−1 .
liquid volumes will be tested. For the simulations performed The brass sheet between the oil pipe and the heating
here, the values for decane were used. element is dbrass = 1.0 mm thick and its measured

6
Meas. Sci. Technol. 22 (2011) 075701
thermal properties are cpbrass = 385 J kg−1 K−1 , kbrass =
400 W m−1 K−1 .
2.4.3. Heating element. In the centre of the heating element
runs an aluminium core (Dcore = 1 mm) where the actual
heat generation takes place. The PDEs (8) need a heat source
density as an input parameter which is calculated by dividing
the total electric input Pel by the aluminium core’s volume.
Around the core is a ceramics shell (Dceramics = 8 mm)
for protection. The thermal properties for the ceramics are
taken from table values since no large-enough sample was
available to perform a HotDisk measurement: cpceramics =
450 J kg−1 K−1 , kceramics = 10 W m−1 K−1 .
2.4.4. Water flow. The water in the wax rig flows through
an annulus with inner diameter Dwaterin = 60.3 mm and
outer diameter Dwaterout = 139.7 mm. The resulting effective
diameter used for the calculation of the heat transfer coefficient
is Dwatereff = 53.5 mm. The water flow rate is constant at Q =
17 m3 h−1 leading to a Reynolds number of Rewater = 20250
for T = 20 ◦ C.
However, all material properties are temperature
dependent. The material properties for water can be taken
from standard tables like [26]. The biggest contribution to the
temperature dependence is the viscosity, leading to a variation
of the Prandtl number from Prwater = 9.3 at T = 10 ◦ C to
Prwater = 5.4 at T = 30 ◦ C. This temperature dependence
needs to be taken into account to explain the experimental
results shown in section 3.
3. Validation of the heat pulse technique in the
wax rig
3.1. Validation of steady-state wax-free model
In a first step, the equations for a steady-state wax-free model
as derived in section 2.3.1 will be validated. To this end, a
series of measurements in the wax rig were performed before
any wax was deposited. During these measurements the heat
pulse equipment was switched on with constant electric power
while oil was circulated at different flow rates. The objective
of these measurements was to determine the heat flow from
the heating equipment to the oil Q̇oil and to the water Q̇water .
The heat flows can be calculated by measuring the
temperature increase for oil and water in the test sections 1Toil
and 1Twater :
Q̇oil/water = Cpoil/water ρoil/water Qoil/water 1Toil/water ,
where Cp is the heat capacity, ρ is the density and Q is the
flow rate.
By comparing these experimentally determined heat
fluxes Q̇oil/waterexp with the heat fluxes Q̇oil/watermod determined
by the model equations (2) and (7), the missing model
parameter cgeom can be determined.
Figure 9(top) shows the measured heat flux towards
the oil and the water flow as a function of the oil flow rate. The
sum of the two heat fluxes is roughly constant and equals the
total electric input (red continuous line). Figure 9(bottom)
7
R Hoffmann et al
Figure 9. Steady-state heat flux in the wax-free rig.
shows the ratio of the heat flux to oil to the heat flux to water
Q̇oil /Q̇water . For very low flow rates more than 90% of the
generated heat goes into the water flow, while for the higher
flow rates this ratio drops below 80%.
By adjusting the model parameter cgeom which describes
the influence of the heating element geometry on the heat
transfer to water (see section 2.3) to a value of cgeom = 0.6357
the modelled heat fluxes Q̇oil/watermod fit the measured heat
fluxes Q̇oil/waterexp very well.
3.2. Set-up of the heat pulse wax monitoring procedure
To test the heat pulse wax monitoring technique during the
wax deposition experiments in the test rig, a fixed procedure
was established to achieve reproducible results. An important
condition for such a test procedure is that it only measures
the wax deposit’s thickness without changing/removing the
deposit. Heat has therefore to be applied carefully so as not to
remove the deposit accidentally.
An overview of the procedure is shown in figure 10.
(i) HP section 1 is used as the calibration section, i.e. it
should always measure in a wax-free state. Therefore each
sequence starts by switching on 100% power in section 1
for 30 min.
(ii) 5 min after step 1 is finished, 100% power is switched on
in section 1 until a temperature of 25 ◦ C is reached, and
then the power is switched off.
(iii) 5 min after step 2 is finished, 100% power is switched on
in section 2 until a temperature of 25 ◦ C is reached, and
then the power is switched off.
(iv) 5 min after step 3 is finished, 100% power is switched on
in section 1 until a temperature of 30 ◦ C is reached, and
then the power is switched off.
(v) 5 min after step 4 is finished, 100% power is switched on
in section 2 until a temperature of 30 ◦ C is reached, and
then the power is switched off.
Meas. Sci. Technol. 22 (2011) 075701 R Hoffmann et al

Figure 10. Heat pulse procedure—details.

35 0.08
Wax free
0.5 mm wax
30 Wax free 0.075
0.5 mm wax
Time constant [1/s]
Temperature [°C]

25 Section 1 (wax−free)
0.07

20

0.065
15
Section 2 (including wax)
Continous line: 10 seconds switch−on
0.06 Dotted line: 15 seconds switch−on time
10

5 0.055
0 50 100 150 0 10 20 30 40
Time [s] Time [h]

Figure 11. Derivation of a characteristic time constant from a single heat pulse.

The reason for performing two heat pulses in each section the wax was therefore already removed 2–3 min after the heat
is to test the influence of the maximum temperature level that is was switched on.
reached during the heat pulse. The whole sequence is repeated In addition, figure 10 also shows that the wax is rapidly
at intervals of 2 h. building up again after the heat was switched off: in only half
Figure 10 clearly shows how wax is removed in section 1 an hour after the heat was switched off, the temperature in
during the initial 30 min switch-on time: before the power is section 1 has dropped from THP1 = 9.3 ◦ C to THP1 = 7.3 ◦ C
switched on, the temperature in section 1 (THP1 = 6.5 ◦ C) is indicating the build-up of a new insulating wax layer.
near the water temperature (Twater = 5 ◦ C) because wax on the To correlate the resulting measured temperatures from
inner oil pipe wall is insulating the temperature sensor from the each single heat pulse with the wax thickness, a characteristic
constant for each heat pulse has to be derived. This could
warm oil (Toil = 15 ◦ C). After the power is switched off, the
be for example the temperature at a certain time after the
temperature in section 1 is significantly higher (THP1 = 9.3 ◦ C)
heating elements were switched off. But this would result in
since the insulating wax was removed.
a high degree of measurement uncertainty since only a single
The removal of the wax can also actually be seen during measurement point would be used.
the 30 min switch-on period: at the beginning of the switch-on It was therefore decided to use a different approach: the
period, a small spike in the temperature of section 1 can be whole declining part of the temperature curve (after the heating
discerned. This spike indicates that the temperature started elements are switched off) is fitted to an exponential function
to rise to a higher level but then the wax was released and
heat flows not only to the water but also to the oil (since the T (t) = b1 e−b2 t + b3 .
insulating wax was removed). Therefore the temperature in The decay time constant b2 is then taken to be the
section 1 stabilizes at a lower temperature than the original characteristic constant for the corresponding heat pulse.
spike had indicated. In the example shown in figure 10, all Figure 11(left) shows an example for two heat pulses with 0 and

8
Meas. Sci. Technol. 22 (2011) 075701 R Hoffmann et al

0.5 mm wax thicknesses respectively. The circles represent the

0.1
measurement values and the continuous line drawn through the
declining part represents the exponential fit. 0.098
Using this approach has the benefit of being independent
0.096

Time constant [1/s], Zone 2

of small variations in the switch-on time of the equipment.
This can clearly be seen in figure 11(right) where the 0.094
derived time constants for a whole wax deposition experiment
0.092
(42 h, heat pulse measurements every 2 h) are plotted. The
determined time constant in section 1, which is kept wax-free, 0.09
remains approximately the same. For section 2 however a clear
0.088
trend for the time constant can be seen as the wax thickness
increases in the course of the experiment. The continuous line 0.086
for section 2 represents the results when the heating elements
0.084
were switched on for about 10 s reaching a temperature of
about 25 ◦ C, while the dotted line represents the results when 0.082
the heating elements were switched on for longer (about 15 s up 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
Temperature [°C]
to about 30 ◦ C). Obviously this does not influence the derived
time constants, which is essential for a stable measurement Figure 12. Influence of temperature at Q = 15 m3 h−1 .
procedure since there will always be small variations in the
equipment used.
at Qwater = 17 m3 h−1 ). The dependence of the time constant
Another even more important consequence of the
on the flow rate (figure 13) is due to the improved heat transfer
independence of the measurement results from the switch-on
from the steel pipe into the oil flow at higher flow rates (see
time is that there is a degree of freedom on how to design the
equation (6)):
measurement equipment. One can for example use a heating
device with a small power rating (if e.g. power supply is limited koil
hfilmoil = 0.023Re0.8 0.33
oil Proil
in a sub-sea environment) and switch on for a longer time Doil
until a suitable temperature level is reached. The definition ρoil Qoil
of a ‘suitable temperature level’ is mainly determined by the Reoil = .
ηoil Doil π4
accuracy of the temperature sensor.
The higher flow rate Qoil results in a higher Reynolds
number Reoil which in turn results in a higher heat transfer
3.3. Validation of the transient model without wax deposition
coefficient hfilmoil . Here also the continuous line of the wax-
In the next step, the developed transient model was tested free transient model shows a sufficient approximation of the
for a wax-free pipe at different temperatures and flow rates. measurements: although the measurement points stray from
To this end small heat pulses (as shown in figure 10) were the model, these deviations (in the worst case up to a delta
performed in a first series of experiments at a constant flow time constant of 0.006 s−1 ) are significantly lower than the
rate of Q = 15 m3 h−1 at different temperatures (oil and water changes of the time constant during wax deposition (delta
were always kept equal so that the whole system was always time constants greater than 0.02 s−1 , see figure 14).
isothermal).
Figure 12 shows the resulting time constants for the heat
3.4. Validation of the transient model including wax
pulses as a function of the temperature. Each data point
deposition
represents the average of a heat pulse with 1T = 10 ◦ C
and one with 1T = 15 ◦ C. The clear temperature dependence In the final validation step, the transient model is validated
is due to the improved heat transfer at higher temperatures: against a series of experiments where wax was deposited
for higher temperatures, heat dissipates faster leading to a over time. The wax thickness was calculated from pressure
higher time constant. The underlying reason is the temperature drop measurements. These thickness values are taken as a
dependence of the properties of both oil and water (viscosity, reference for comparison with the results from the heat pulse
thermal conductivity and heat capacity). These lead to a measurements.
change in the heat transfer coefficients hfilmwater and hfilmoil .
For example, the heat transfer coefficient from steel to water
hfilmwater changes by 23% when the temperature increases 3.4.1. Experiments with different temperatures. First a series
from 15 to 55 ◦ C. The continuous line shown in figure 12 of experiments were performed where the oil flow rate was
displays the temperature dependence of the wax-free transient always constant at Qoil = 15 m3 h−1 , the water temperature
model which is a sufficiently good approximation of the at Twater = 5 ◦ C and the oil temperature was varied from
measurements. Toil = 15 ◦ C to Toil = 35 ◦ C.
The next series of experiments were performed at a Figure 14 shows the experimental results and the model
constant temperature (Toil = Twater = 30 ◦ C) where the oil results (to achieve more clarity, only the model results for 15,
flow rate was varied (the water flow rate was always constant 25 and 35 ◦ C are plotted). Several observations can be made.

9
Meas. Sci. Technol. 22 (2011) 075701
0.1
0.095
Time constant [1/s] zone 2
0.09
0.085
0.08
0.075
5 10 15
Flow rate [m³/h]
Figure 13. Influence of the oil flow rate at T = 30 ◦ C.
• The measured time constant from the heat pulse follows
a smooth decline with increasing wax thickness. This
shows the method’s usefulness in determining the wax
thickness. It should be emphasized again that the tests
performed here are a worst case scenario since 80–90%
of the heat pulse energy is dissipated into the water flow
leaving only 10–20% of energy available for the intended
measurement of the wax thickness. In a production
system, almost 100% of the heat pulse energy dissipates
through the wax layer, increasing the signal-to-noise ratio
significantly.
• There is a clear trend of the curves towards higher time
constants for higher oil temperatures (in accordance with
the wax-free experiments shown in figure 12, even if
this time only the oil temperature was varied and the
water temperature was kept constant). This underlines
the necessity to incorporate the temperature dependence
of the material parameters into the model.
• The continuous curves from the model follow the trend
of the experiments correctly. However there are still
some deviations. The most probable reason is the lack
of good data for some of the material constants. As was
explained in section 2.4, neither the thermal properties
for oil nor for the ceramics in the heating elements could
be measured but had to be taken from some literature
references. In addition also the wax deposit achieved
from an experiment at Toil = 35 ◦ C is quite different
from the one at Toil = 15 ◦ C. The wax from the higher
temperature is much harder and will therefore probably
have a different (higher) thermal conductivity from the
one at the lower temperature. Ideally thermal conductivity
measurements should be performed for a sample of wax
of each experiment.
• For larger wax thicknesses, the curves start to flatten out
so that any further increase in wax thickness will register
only in a very small change in the time constant. The
reason is the strong insulation provided by a thick wax
layer: this effectively shields the temperature sensor from
the oil flow. This means, in practice, that it will be
R Hoffmann et al
0.095
T(oil)=25°C
T(oil)=35°C Sim T(oil)=35°C
Sim T(oil)=25°C
0.09 Sim T(oil)=15°C
Exp T(oil)=35°C
Time constant from Heat Pulse [1/s]
Exp T(oil)=30°C
0.085
Exp T(oil)=25°C
Exp T(oil)=20°C
0.08 T(oil)=15°C Exp T(oil)=15°C
0.075
0.07
0.065
0.06
0.055
20 −0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
Wax thickness from pressure drop [mm]
Figure 14. Influence of the oil temperature at
Qoil = 15 m3 h−1 and Twater = 5 ◦ C.
difficult to measure the build-up of the wax thickness
up to 2 mm which is currently used as the final limit
before a pigging operation needs to be started. A way
around this problem is to use the measured wax thickness
values (for small wax thicknesses) as a function of time
and extrapolate the resulting curve. As had been shown
in [23], wax deposition can be represented as a power-
law function where the wax thickness hwax follows time t
with a function hwax = kt n . The power-law exponent n is
usually in the range of 0.4–0.6, depending on the operating
conditions. By using the heat pulse measurement results
for thin wax layers where the time constants still give
a significant variation, this power-law exponent can be
determined and used to extrapolate the wax build-up curve
to find the point where the 2 mm limit is reached.
In addition, it should be noted that the curves for the
time constant versus the wax thickness are much less flat
for the simulated case of a real production pipeline (see
figure 16). The reason is that a production pipeline is
insulated from the surrounding water, so almost all the
heat produced during the heat pulse will need to dissipate
through the wax layer, resulting in a far higher sensitivity
than in the current lab experiments.
3.4.2. Experiments with different flow rates. A second series
of experiments were performed when the temperatures were
kept constant (Toil = 15 ◦ C, Twater = 5 ◦ C) and the flow rate
was varied from Qoil = 5 to 20 m3 h−1 .
Figure 15 shows the experimental and the model results.
The observations that can be made are as follows.
• The measured time constants from the heat pulse follow
once again a smooth decline with increasing wax
thickness.
• Again there is a clear trend of higher time constants
for higher flow rates in accordance with the wax-free
experiments shown in figure 13.
• The model curves follow the experimental trend. Again
the deviations are most probably due to not fully correct
10
Meas. Sci. Technol. 22 (2011) 075701
0.08
Sim Q=5 m³/h
Sim Q=10 m³/h
Sim Q=20 m³/h
0.075
Exp Q=5 m³/h
Time constant from Heat Pulse [1/s]
Q=5 m³/h Exp Q=10 m³/h
Exp Q=20 m³/h
0.07
Q=10 m³/h
0.065 Q=20 m³/h
0.06
0.055
0.05
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6
Wax thickness from pressure drop [mm]
Figure 15. Influence of the flow rate at Toil = 15 C and Twater = ◦ Wax thickness [mm]
5 ◦ C.
material parameters. Especially if the curve does not
exactly follow the experimental results for increasing wax
thickness (see e.g. the curve for Q = 5 m3 h−1 between
0.1 and 1 mm wax thickness), this is most probably
due to a different thermal conductivity of the real wax
as compared to the modelled wax. To be precise, the
thermal parameters of the wax might even change over
time since it is known that the wax composition changes
over time (aging) [31] which might well also change the
thermal properties. This would explain why the model
and experiment fit best for a higher wax thickness, since
the measurement of the wax properties was performed
on wax samples at the end of the deposition period.
The largest deviations are at the start of the deposition
period when the wax deposit is most unlike its final state.
Fortunately this is not a big operational disadvantage since
it is most important to know the exact wax thickness
when the deposit reaches the critical limit for pigging
(around 2.0 mm).
4. Conclusions and future work
4.1. Conclusions for application on a production pipeline
4.1.1. Electric power and accuracy of temperature
measurements. The experiments and the corresponding
modelling work in the wax deposition test rig have shown
that the absolute temperature level on which a heat pulse wax
monitoring is performed does not influence the result, i.e. the
time constant with which the temperature declines after the
heat pulse. And since only the declining of the temperature
after the actual heat pulse is evaluated, it does not matter how
much time it took to increase the temperature during the heat
pulse.
These results have several consequences on how to design
the measurement equipment for a production pipeline. In
effect, they mean that the only precondition to perform a heat
pulse wax monitoring operation is to have a very small increase
in the temperature. In practice however there is one limitation
11
R Hoffmann et al
−3
x 10
8
kwax=2.2 W/mK
7.5 k =2.0 W/mK
wax
kwax=1.8 W/mK
7
Time constant [1/s]
6.5
6
5.5
5
± 0.2 mm
4.5
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8
Figure 16. Influence of thermal wax properties on heat pulse wax
monitoring results.
and that is the accuracy of the temperature measurements.
Given a certain accuracy of the sensors, the actual heat pulse
needs to be at least an order of magnitude larger to ensure that
the recorded transient temperature signal can be used to derive
the time constant with sufficient robustness.
So the accuracy of the temperature measurements defines
the amount of temperature increase that the heat pulse needs
to deliver. But there is still no limit on how much time the
heating elements need to achieve this temperature increase. If
the electric power supply is limited, one may simply have to
wait longer until the desired target temperature is reached.
4.1.2. Influence of parameter variations on the measurement
result.
Wax properties. As explained in section 2.4, the values used
for the thermal properties of wax are the average of the values
that can be expected. However, for a production pipeline,
there is no way to determine online which kind of wax has
been deposited, nor can this be simulated in a robust, reliable
way.
Three simulations have therefore been performed where
the minimum, average and maximum wax properties (thermal
conductivity and heat capacity) were used. Figure 16 shows
the resulting time constants as a function of the wax thickness.
The influence of the wax properties increases for increasing
wax thickness: for a real wax thickness of 1.6 mm, changes in
the wax properties can introduce an error of up to ±0.2 mm.
The problem will increase for even thicker wax deposits.
However from an operational point of view, wax thicknesses
of more than 2 mm should not be allowed anyway (to minimize
the risk of a pig getting stuck). Therefore the maximum error
due to not knowing the exact wax properties will be limited
to below 15% of the real wax thickness which should satisfy
operational demands.
Meas. Sci. Technol. 22 (2011) 075701
Oil properties. According to the results from the wax rig, the
most important property of the transported oil is its viscosity.
This can and should be measured in order to obtain a useful
model for the heat pulse measurement process. Further
research using the HotDisk equipment will try to elucidate
whether it is necessary (and possible) also to measure the
thermal properties.
Temperature and flow rate. As shown in section 3, both
oil temperature and oil flow rate influence the heat pulse
result significantly. The flow rate in a production pipeline
is measured continuously and can therefore be considered as
known. However the oil temperature is only known at the
pipe inflow and outflow. The temperature at the heat pulse
measurement equipment position will not be measured since
it is not desirable to have any instrumentation sticking into
the pipe. The only way to determine this temperature is thus
using 1D pipeline simulations (e.g. Olga). This introduces
an additional error since the heat transfer from the fluid in
the pipeline to the environment is usually not well known
(the unknowns include e.g. the heat transfer coefficient for
multiphase flow, the heat transfer for half-buried pipes into
sea water, etc). Simulations were therefore performed to
estimate the effect of a wrong temperature on the heat pulse
measurement results. It was found that an error in the
temperature of 5 ◦ C introduces an error in the calculated wax
thickness of below 5% which should be fully acceptable.
It should also be mentioned that a rapid change of the
flow rate during a measurement cycle (which would last about
10–20 s) would render the measurement result unusable. It is
therefore important to log the flow parameters in parallel to
the heat pulse measurements.
4.2. Further work
This study has shown that the heat pulse wax monitoring is
capable of measuring the wax thickness build-up in an oil
pipeline. The equipment that was tested in the wax deposition
test rig in Porsgrunn returned results that agreed well with the
results predicted by the numerical model. It therefore seems
justified to use an equivalent model to predict the use of the
heat pulse wax monitoring idea in a production pipeline.
The next steps will involve two activities: first, a new
experimental campaign will be performed in a modified test
rig capable of running multiphase flow to test the performance
of the technology in multiphase flow conditions. In addition,
preparatory work will start for a pilot installation of the
technology in a suitable sub-sea pipeline.
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