A Study on Optimal Sizing of Pipeline Transporting Equi-sized Particulate Solid-Liquid Mixture

Pipelines transporting solid-liquid mixtures are of practical interest to the oil and pipe industry throughout the world. Such pipelines are known as slurry pipelines where the solid medium of the flow is commonly known as slurry. The optimal designing of such pipelines is of commercial interests for their widespread acceptance. A methodology has been evolved for the optimal sizing of a pipeline transporting solid-liquid mixture. Least cost principle has been used in sizing such pipelines, which involves the determination of pipe diameter corresponding to the minimum cost for given solid throughput. The detailed analysis with regard to transportation of slurry having solids of uniformly graded particles size has been included. The proposed methodology can be used for designing a pipeline for transporting any solid material for different solid throughput.