Two-Phase Flow Splitting Experiments in an Impacting Tee With Two Risers

We have carried out laboratory experiments for the flow split of a gas-liquid flow from a single flowline to a dual riser. The facility used for the experiments is the air-water loop at the Shell Technology Centre in Amsterdam. The 2" diameter loop consists of a 100 m long flowline followed by a dual 15 m high vertical section. The two risers are connected to the same separator at a platform that is operated at atmospheric pressure. This study is an extension of our previous experiments that were carried out for a non-symmetric splitter (i.e. branching tee) at the riser base, whereas the current experiments use a symmetric splitter (i.e. impacting tee) at the riser base. The results showed that even though the riser base splitter was symmetric, the flow split was not fully symmetric. The splitting could be controlled by either partly closing the top valves at the riser top or the two valves at the riser base. At low flow rates one riser was filled with a liquid column and all production went through the other riser. Choking the valves at relatively low flow rates gave hysteresis, which disappeared at increased gas flow rate. The gas flow split could be controlled with the valves. For the liquid flow rates tested there was a strong tendency for the liquid to split more or less evenly over the two risers, almost irrespectively of the back pressure imposed by the valve choking.