Hydraulic Model and Flow Simulation of the Los Azufres Geothermal Field Steam Pipeline Network
- Key words
- Steam Pipeline Network; Numerical Simulation; Los Azufres Geothermal Field; Hydraulic Model; Pressure losses; Heat Losses; Model Documentation
- Location
- Los Azufres, Mexico
- Conference
- Geothermal Resources Council Transactions
- Year
- 2008
- Session
- Pipelins; Power plant design and operation
- Language
- English
Abstract
The development and documentation of a hydraulic model of the Los Azufres geothermal field steam transportation network as well as simulation results are presented. The network is divided into North and South zones, and comprises 41 producing wells, 28 km of pipelines with diameters ranging from 10 to 42 in, and 14 power plants with an installed capacity of 188 MWe. The hydraulic model was implemented numerically to perform flow simulations and to determine pressure and heat losses and flow direction and velocity. Results show that, in general, computed pressures and flowrates are within10% of measured values. Computed flowrates are within 15% of measured values. Simulation results are considered very satisfactory given the network complexity; the physical characteristics of the geothermal field; the characteristics of the simulator employed, and the identification of areas for operation improvement.
Copyright 2008, Geothermal Resources Council. Readers who download papers from this site should honour the copyright of the original authors, and may not copy or distribute the work further without the permission of the original publisher.