Numerical simulation of sulfur particle agglomeration at bends of high sulfur natural gas gathering pipelines based on Euler-PBM coupling.

Sulfur deposition can result in an increase in the wall thickness of high-sulfur natural gas gathering pipelines, leading to issues like unstable pipeline flow. It is crucial to reveal the aggregation of sulfur particles at key locations of high-sulfur natural gas gathering pipelines to predict the location and amount of sulfur deposition in the pipelines. In this paper, the Euler-PBM (Population balance model) coupling is used to establish a numerical simulation model of gas-solid two-phase pipe flow accompanied by sulfur particle agglomeration in the pipe bends, focusing on the influence of sulfur particle volume fraction, pipe inclination angle and inlet flow velocity on sulfur particles agglomeration behavior.