| Heavy oil produced from a well must be transported from the well to a processing facility. In Eastern Alberta and Western Saskatchewan, the primary method of transport is by tanker truck. Oil producers are concerned about using pipelines because of the potential for extreme pressure loss due to the high viscosity of heavy oil. Viscosity of heavy oil is highly dependent upon temperature; therefore, any calculation of pressure losses must consider the temperature of the oil throughout the length of the pipeline. A steady-state calculation is easily done, but this does not allow consideration of seasonal temperature changes and the effects of changes in flow rate, and start ups and shutdowns. The present work is the construction of a model for calculating temperature (and therefore viscosity and pressure loss) in a heavy oil pipeline in transient conditions. |
