Assessment of the Structural Stability of Abnormal Flow Systems in an Oil Gathering Network
摘要
Rheological studies of various crude oils, oil blends, and water–oil emulsions demonstrate that under certain conditions, loss of flow stability may occur, which is generally associated with internal structural transformations and the viscoelasticity of the system. Such systems belong to nonequilibrium fluids, and their flow curves are in most cases nonlinear. This study works on determining the coefficient of structural stability under shear deformation, based on the analogy between a generalized exponential rheological equation and the equation for a linear viscoelastic Maxwell-type fluid. We propose a dependence that can estimate the relaxation time for structure-forming oils, which corresponds to elastic instability.