Effect of Shear Stress on Crude Oil Fouling in a Heat Exchanger Tube Through CFD Simulations

Abstract

This work presents the effect of shear stress on deposit formation caused by the heavy petroleum residues in the crude oil. The investigation is based on a three dimensional study through Computational Fluid Dynamics approach. Fouling process is simulated using asphaltenes precipitation and chemical reaction routes. The asphaltenes phase deposition and coke formation rates were predicted through Volume-of-Fluid (VoF) multiphase model and thermal cracking due to chemical reactions, respectively. The aging process of the fouling layer was studied through a transient state numerical approach. Grid dependence study has been performed to confirm the accuracy of the performed mesh. It was observed that, wall shear stress enables the removal of fouling precursors and thus reduce the deposit formation.