Effects of a new drag reduction agent on natural gas pipeline transportation

Pipeline transportation is the major way to transport natural gas. How to reduce energy dissipation and retain the gas delivery capacity are the main problems of pipeline transportation. In this article, a new drag reduction agent named CPA is synthesized. An experimental investigation on the roughness-reducing effect of CPA on the inner surface of the pipeline is carried out. The effect of CPA on natural gas flow regime in the near-wall region of the pipeline is researched with Fluent software. Field tests for calculating the drag reduction rate of CPA are performed. The results show that CPA can reduce the roughness of the inner surface effectively, and the maximum roughness-reducing percentage is 38.74%. Meanwhile, CPA can reduce the frictional drag and thereby improve transportation capacity of pipelines. After injecting CPA, the streamline of the natural gas in the near-wall region is more consistent. The velocity fluctuation decreases by 93.2%. The mean turbulence intensity decreases by 53.01%. The pipeline pressure further decreases the roughness of the inner surface of the pipeline. The field test shows that the maximum drag reduction rate of CPA is 25%, and it is suitable for application in gathering and transportation pipelines of high flow velocity and turbulent rough region.