Study on hydrodynamic dual acoustic wax prevention based on arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian fluid-solid coupling methods

Waxy crude oil crystallizes when the temperature drops to its wax appearance temperature, causing wax precipitates to form on the inner walls of pipelines. This reduces the effective flow area, increases the risk of clogging, and poses safety hazards. To address this, a double acoustic wave anti-wax structure was designed. This structure disrupts the crystalline lattice and long molecular chains through mechanical vibration, cavitation, and thermal effects, thereby reducing wax crystal formation. To overcome mesh distortion at the fluid-solid interface in simulations, a fluid-solid coupling model based on the Arbitrary Lagrange-Euler (ALE) method was developed. The findings show that with optimized parameters-such as a 50 mm wide and 50 mm deep jet spray cavity, a 2 mm nozzle, and a reed cleavage tip vibrating at a 30 degrees angle, 100 mm length, 12 mm spray distance, and 4 mm spray width-the flow rate efficiency improves, flow field uniformity increases, and reed deformation is maximized. This enhances the mechanical vibration and cavitation effects, leading to better anti-wax performance. Field experiments show a viscosity reduction of up to 50%, demonstrating the significant effectiveness of this approach.