📝 Overview

The Pipeline Pig Tracker Tool estimates pig speed and arrival time for both gas and liquid pipelines, accounting for inlet/outlet pressure, compressibility (Z-factor), and conversion of standard flow to actual flow at pipeline conditions.

🧾 Inputs

  • Pipeline Type: Liquid or Gas
  • Pipeline Length: m, km, ft, mi
  • Pipe Inside Diameter: mm, inches
  • Flow Rate: m³/h, bbl/d, L/s, MMSCFD, Sm³/h
    • (Gas: flowrate at standard conditions)
  • (For Gas) Standard flow P, T, Z and Pipeline P, T, Z
  • Pig Launch to Target Distance: m, km, ft, mi
  • Pipeline Inlet & Outlet Pressure: bar, psi, MPa
  • Calculation Method/Code:
    • API RP 14E, DNVGL-RP-F110, ISO 13623, Field/Empirical
  • Output Time Unit: min, hr, days
  • Output Pig Speed Unit: m/s, ft/s, km/h, mph

🧮 Calculations

  • For gas:
    1. Converts standard flow to actual flow at pipeline conditions using ideal gas law and Z-factor: Qactual=QstdtimesfracPstdPavgtimesfracTavgTstdtimesfracZstdZavgQ_\text{actual} = Q_\text{std} \\times \\frac{P_\text{std}}{P_\text{avg}} \\times \\frac{T_\text{avg}}{T_\text{std}} \\times \\frac{Z_\text{std}}{Z_\text{avg}}Qactual​=Qstd​timesfracPstd​Pavg​timesfracTavg​Tstd​timesfracZstd​Zavg​
    2. Uses Q_actual for pig speed.
  • For all pipelines:
    • Pig speed: Vtextpig=fracQAV_{\\text{pig}} = \\frac{Q}{A}Vtextpig​=fracQA
    • Pressure effect: speed scales with pipeline average pressure.
    • Pig travel time: t=fracLtexttravelVtextpigt = \\frac{L_{\\text{travel}}}{V_{\\text{pig}}}t=fracLtexttravel​Vtextpig​
    • Method/code can adjust speed slightly.
    • Acceptance: Flags if pig speed is outside 0.3–3.0 m/s.

📤 Outputs

  • Acceptance Status: ✅ Acceptable or ⚠️ Review
  • Pig Speed: In selected unit
  • Estimated Time to Target: In selected unit
  • Key input summary and actual gas flowrate shown (if applicable)