Erosion management system

Abstract

An erosion management system is configured to monitor erosion of a component of a mineral extraction system. The erosion management system includes a controller configured to receive feedback from a flow meter related to a flow rate of a production fluid flowing through the component. Additionally, the controller is configured to receive feedback from an erosion detector related to an amount of solids in the production fluid. The controller is configured to determine an erosion rate of the component based on the feedback from the flow meter and the feedback from the erosion detector.

1 . A system, comprising:
 an erosion management system configured to monitor erosion of a component of a mineral extraction system, wherein the erosion management system comprises:
 a flow meter configured to generate feedback relating to a flow rate of a production fluid flowing through the component; 
 an erosion detector configured to generate feedback relating to an amount of solids in the production fluid flowing through the component; and 
 a controller configured to:
 receive feedback from the flow meter and feedback from the erosion detector; and 
 determine an erosion rate of the component based on the feedback from the flow meter and feedback from the erosion detector. 
 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the erosion detector comprises an acoustic detector, an electrical resistance detector, or both. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to:
 determine the flow rate of the production fluid based on feedback from the flow meter;   determine a mass flow rate of the solids in the production fluid based on the flow rate of the production fluid and the feedback from the erosion detector; and   determine the erosion rate based on the mass flow rate of the solids in the production fluid.   
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein the erosion management system comprises a fluid density meter configured to generate feedback relating to a density of the production fluid, wherein the controller is configured to:
 receive feedback from the fluid density meter; and   determine the erosion rate based on the feedback from the fluid density meter.   
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to monitor the erosion rate over a period of time and to determine an amount of accumulated erosion for the component by determining an integral of the erosion rate over the period of time. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the erosion management system comprises a user interface operatively coupled to the controller, wherein the controller is configured to cause the user interface to provide a recommendation to adjust the flow rate of the production fluid based on the erosion rate. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to determine a recommended flow rate of the production fluid based at least in part on a comparison of the erosion rate to an erosion rate threshold. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the erosion management system comprises a user interface operatively coupled to the controller, wherein the controller is configured to cause the user interface to display the recommended flow rate. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the controller is configured to control a choke to adjust the flow rate of the production fluid to the recommended flow rate. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to determine a predicted remaining life of the component based at least in part on the erosion rate. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the controller is configured to determine the predicted remaining life of the component by determining when a wall thickness of the component will be less than a predetermined minimum wall thickness. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the controller is configured to determine when the wall thickness of the component will be less than the predetermined minimum wall thickness based at least in part on predicted future values of the erosion rate and an initial value of the wall thickness of the component. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the component comprises a wellhead, a production tree, or a manifold. 
     
     
         14 . A system, comprising:
 a mineral extraction system configured to extract a production fluid from a wall, wherein the mineral extraction system comprises:
 a flow meter configured to generate feedback relating to a flow rate of the production fluid flowing through a component of the mineral extraction system; 
 an erosion detector configured to generate feedback relating to an amount of solids in the production fluid flowing through the component; 
 a controller configured to:
 determine an erosion rate of the component based at least in part on the feedback from the flow meter and the feedback from the erosion detector; 
 compare the erosion rate to an erosion rate threshold; and 
 determine a recommended flow rate of the production fluid based at least in part on the comparison. 
 
   
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the mineral extraction system comprises a user interface, and wherein the controller is configured to cause the user interface to display the recommended flow rate. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the mineral extraction system comprises a production tree, and wherein the production tree comprises the component. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the production tree comprises a choke configured to adjust the flow rate of the production fluid and a choke actuator configured to control the choke, and wherein the controller is configured to send a control signal to the choke actuator to cause the choke to adjust the flow rate of the production fluid to the recommended flow rate. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the production tree comprises a choke configured to adjust the flow rate of the production fluid, and wherein the flow meter is disposed in a bore of the production tree upstream of the choke, and wherein the erosion detector is disposed in the bore downstream of the choke. 
     
     
         19 . A method for monitoring erosion of a component of a mineral extraction system, comprising:
 determining a flow rate of a production fluid flowing through the component of the mineral extraction system based on feedback from a flow meter;   determining an amount of solids in the production fluid flowing through the component based on feedback from an erosion detector; and   determining an erosion rate of the component based at least in part on the flow rate of the production fluid and the amount of solids in the production fluid.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , comprising:
 determining a predicted remaining life of the component based at least in part on the erosion rate;   comparing the predicted remaining life of the component to a threshold;   determining a recommended flow rate of the production fluid based on the comparison; and   providing a user-perceivable recommendation to adjust the flow rate of the production fluid to the recommended flow rate.