In offshore operations, the agglomeration between hydrate particles is a significant reason that could lead to pipeline hydrate plugging. Dynamic modeling and numerical simulation of pipeline hydrate particle agglomeration are of great importance to offshore hydrate management. For this purpose, a dynamic model of hydrate agglomeration was proposed and then used to simulate pipeline hydrate particle agglomeration in this paper. The dynamic model was established based on population balance equation, which took both hydrate agglomeration and hydrate breakage into consideration. Collision frequency, agglomeration efficiency, breakage frequency and size distribution of the sub particles resulting from particle breakage are four key parameters that involved in the dynamic model. Combined with several traditional solid-liquid flow models, the dynamic model was solved by the CFD software FLUENT 14.5 to simulate the agglomeration process of hydrate particles in the pipeline at different conditions. The influences of flow rate and hydrate volume fraction on the agglomeration process were analyzed emphatically. The simulation results were also compared with the calculation results of hydrate particle growth model and hydrate rheological model. The conclusions of this paper can provide guidance for the development of deep water flow assurance.

在海上作业中，水合物颗粒之间的团聚是可能导致管道水合物堵塞的重要原因。管道水合物颗粒团聚的动态建模和数值模拟对海上水合物管理非常重要。为此，本文提出了水合物团聚的动力学模型，并将其用于模拟管道水合物颗粒团聚。基于种群平衡方程建立了动力学模型，同时考虑了水合物的团聚和水合物的分解。碰撞频率，团聚效率，破损频率和由破损引起的子颗粒尺寸分布是动力学模型中涉及的四个关键参数。结合几种传统的固液流动模型，通过CFD软件FLUENT 14.5对动力学模型进行求解，以模拟不同条件下管道中水合物颗粒的团聚过程。着重分析了流速和水合物体积分数对团聚过程的影响。将模拟结果与水合物颗粒生长模型和水合物流变模型的计算结果进行了比较。本文的结论可为深水流量保障的发展提供指导。将模拟结果与水合物颗粒生长模型和水合物流变模型的计算结果进行了比较。本文的结论可为深水流量保障的发展提供指导。将模拟结果与水合物颗粒生长模型和水合物流变模型的计算结果进行了比较。本文的结论可为深水流量保障的发展提供指导。