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Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation of Heavy Crude Oil Transport Under Ecuadorian Oriente Conditions

Abstract:

The surface transportation of heavy crude oil remains an operational challenge due to its high viscosity and rapid heat loss when exposed to ambient conditions, which significantly increases the energy required for pumping. Although previous studies have estimated thermal losses using average convective coefficients, they have not characterized the internal development of the thermal and velocity boundary layers, nor their direct influence on viscosity and flow regime. The objective of this study is to develop a predictive model based on computational fluid dynamics with temperature-dependent properties, enabling the analysis of the interaction between heat transfer phenomena and flow dynamics along a 50 m SCH-80 pipeline segment under real conditions of the Ecuadorian Oriente and to propose a mathematical tool capable of accurately predicting temperature loss over long pipeline sections. The results show a temperature decrease from 346.5 K to 342.5 K, accompanied by the formation of a thermal boundary layer that reaches 87% of the pipe radius and a reduction in the Reynolds number to approximately 5 due to the increase in viscosity. Furthermore, an effective external convective heat transfer coefficient of 5 W·m<sup>−2</sup>·K was determined, and the developed polynomial model achieved a coefficient of determination R<sup>2</sup> of 0.998, confirming its predictive capability for optimizing the transportation of heavy crude oils.