The development of a wax layer on the interior wall of a circular pipe transporting heated oil: the effects of temperature-dependent wax conductivity

Sophie Lauren Mason; John Christopher Meyer; David John Needham

doi:10.1007/s10665-021-10171-x

The development of a wax layer on the interior wall of a circular pipe transporting heated oil: the effects of temperature-dependent wax conductivity

Mathematics

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Abstract

In this paper we develop and significantly extend the thermal phase change model, introduced in Needham et al. (QJMAM 67:93–125, 2014), describing the process of paraffinic wax layer formation on the interior wall of a circular pipe transporting heated oil, when subject to external cooling. In particular we allow for the natural dependence of the solidifying paraffinic wax conductivity on local temperature. We are able to develop a complete theory, and provide efficient numerical computations, for this extended model. Comparison with recent experimental observations is made, and this, together with recent reviews of the physical mechanisms associated with wax layer formation, provide significant support for the thermal model considered here.

Original language	English
Article number	7
Number of pages	30
Journal	Journal of Engineering Mathematics
Volume	131
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10665-021-10171-x
Publication status	Published - 21 Oct 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank Ruben Schulkes (Statoil Petroleum, AS) for his helpful comments. We also thank the referees for very useful comments.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).

Keywords

Asymptotic limit
Generalised Stefan problem
Heated oil pipeline
Quasi-linear parabolic PDE
Wax layers

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Mathematics
General Engineering

Access to Document

10.1007/s10665-021-10171-xLicence: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC BY)

MasonSL2021developmentFinal published version, 1.2 MBLicence: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC BY)

A fundamental model based on thermal balances for core oil temperature and wax layer development with axial distance in a pipe transporting heated oil
Needham, D. J. & Meyer, J. C., 26 Mar 2025, In: Journal of Engineering Mathematics. 151, 24 p., 10.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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The development of a wax layer on the interior wall of a circular pipe transporting heated oil
Needham, D. J., Johansson, B. T. & Reeve, T., 1 Feb 2014, In: Quarterly Journal of Mechanics and Applied Mathematics. 67, 1, p. 93-125 33 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
3 Citations (Scopus)

Cite this

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title = "The development of a wax layer on the interior wall of a circular pipe transporting heated oil: the effects of temperature-dependent wax conductivity",

abstract = "In this paper we develop and significantly extend the thermal phase change model, introduced in Needham et al. (QJMAM 67:93–125, 2014), describing the process of paraffinic wax layer formation on the interior wall of a circular pipe transporting heated oil, when subject to external cooling. In particular we allow for the natural dependence of the solidifying paraffinic wax conductivity on local temperature. We are able to develop a complete theory, and provide efficient numerical computations, for this extended model. Comparison with recent experimental observations is made, and this, together with recent reviews of the physical mechanisms associated with wax layer formation, provide significant support for the thermal model considered here.",

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The development of a wax layer on the interior wall of a circular pipe transporting heated oil: the effects of temperature-dependent wax conductivity

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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Research output

A fundamental model based on thermal balances for core oil temperature and wax layer development with axial distance in a pipe transporting heated oil

The development of a wax layer on the interior wall of a circular pipe transporting heated oil

Cite this