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Eliminating turbulence in oil pipelines

Objective

Proof of Concept TURBO FLOW
Virtually all pipeline flows are highly turbulent. What is probably less well known is that the major part of the frictional losses in pipelines is caused by turbulence. Already at moderate speeds turbulence is responsible for a 50% drag increase while at high speeds (i.e. high Reynolds numbers) this figure can easily increase to 99%. Annual global pumping costs for oil pipelines alone amount to tens of billions of Euros. If instead the fluid could be maintained in the well-ordered “laminar” motion, pumping costs would drop dramatically. Up to now no methods existed that could convert fully turbulent flows in pipes back to laminar. In the course of the ERC project TURBOFLOW we discovered such a method and we demonstrated that under ideal laboratory conditions a fully turbulent flow can be completely relaminarized and as a consequence friction losses are reduced by as much as 80%.
The aim is now to push this technology from the laboratory to practically realistic situations by testing the method in an oil pipe, closely matching the conditions in real pipeline flows.

Keywords

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

ERC-POC - Proof of Concept Grant

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) ERC-2016-PoC

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Host institution

INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AUSTRIA
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 149 830,00
Address
Am Campus 1
3400 KLOSTERNEUBURG
Austria

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Region
Ostösterreich Niederösterreich Wiener Umland/Nordteil
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 149 830,00

Beneficiaries (1)

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