Most simulations done by engineers are performed using one of the large commercial PDE solvers. Of these simulators, the vast majority are developed in the US with some exceptions such as COMSOL (Sweden), Abaqus (French), and Eclipse (UK). However, when it comes to designing large networks of oil and gas pipelines, engineers are using software developed in Norway.
Since 1979 and up to today, Norway has developed the world leading community in simulations of oil and gas pipelines. It all began with the flow simulator OLGA developed by the Institute for Energy Research (IFE). Today, OLGA is the clear market leader. However, the two largest competitors to OLGA are also developed in Norway.
The fluid flowing out of an oil well is not pure oil, indeed it is a mix of oil, gas, water, and sand. Transporting this mix over long distances is difficult and careful design and operation planning is needed. Traditionally, the mix was transported directly up to an oil platform at the surface for separation and further transport as single phase fluids. The cost of building and operating platforms is however enormous. By making designs based on OLGA simulations, it has been possible to transport this mix over several hundred kilometers (i.e multiphase transport). In fact, Statoil estimates that it has saved several hundred billions NOK by using the software.
The modelling and simulation of flow in oil and gas pipelines is challenging, both when it comes to creating the physical models and in establishing the most efficient numerical solution of these models. We will in this presentation show how a background from mathematics, physics, and computer science can be applied when developing a commercial multiphase simulator like OLGA.