Experimental study of horizontal two- and three-phase flow characteristics at low to medium liquid loading conditions

Ribeiro, Joseph Xavier Francisco; Liao, Ruiquan; Aliyu, Aliyu Musa; Luo, Wei; Liu, Zilong

Abstract

© 2019, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature. An experimental study is conducted using a 0.075-m ID pipe to investigate characteristics of two- and three-phase stratified flow in a horizontal pipeline. Experiments are conducted under low to medium liquid loading conditions which is common in wet-gas and long transportation pipelines. The flow characteristics investigated include flow pattern, liquid holdup and pressure drop. The experimental range covers superficial gas Reynolds numbers from 6314 to 200,734, superficial liquid Reynolds numbers from 160 to 4391 and water-cut values from 0 to 90%. Differential pressure transducers, quick closing valves and a high-speed camera are utilized to obtain the relevant data and the trends investigated. The observed flow patterns are stratified smooth, stratified wavy and stratified-annular flow. The transitions between flow patterns vary as a function of water-cut. The effect of water-cut on liquid holdup and pressure drop were relatively negligible especially at low water-cut conditions and the fine mixing of the oil-water mixture may be partially responsible for this. As a result, with the exception of flow pattern transitions, the performances of classical two-phase flow models (for the prediction of liquid holdup and pressure drop) appear unaffected when applied to air–oil–water 3-phase flows especially at high water-cuts.

Citation

Ribeiro, J. X. F., Liao, R., Aliyu, A. M., Luo, W., & Liu, Z. (2019). Experimental study of horizontal two- and three-phase flow characteristics at low to medium liquid loading conditions. Heat and Mass Transfer, 55(10), 2809-2830. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-019-02616-y

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 1, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Apr 27, 2019
• Publication Date: Oct 1, 2019
• Deposit Date: May 8, 2019
• Journal: Heat and Mass Transfer
• Print ISSN: 0947-7411
• Electronic ISSN: 1432-1181
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 55
• Issue: 10
• Pages: 2809-2830
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-019-02616-y
• Keywords: General Engineering; Condensed Matter Physics; Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2031717
• Publisher URL: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00231-019-02616-y
• Additional Information: This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Heat and Mass Transfer. The final authenticated version is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00231-019-02616-y.; ; Received: 5 December 2018; Accepted: 4 April 2019; First Online: 27 April 2019; : ; : The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.