The turbine meter applied to void fraction determination in two-phase flow

A new approach to analysing the pulse output information from a standard turbine meter in two-phase liquid/gas flows is presented. After suitable calibration, the meter will register the presence of gas, with an accurate indication of void fraction up to 20%, and provide a measure of the liquid flowrate. The single-phase performance of the meter remains unaffected.     

Performance model evaluation of turbine flow meter in vertical gas-liquid two-phase flows

Aiming at the need for flow measurement of gas-liquid flows in domestic gas well production, this paper proposes a measurement method based on the combination of the turbine flow meter (TFM) and a rotating electric field conductance sensor (REFCS). In experiments, the REFCS is used for the measurement of the gas holdup. To verify the applicability of the TFM models investigated in the previous study, for the modeling part, the mass, momentum and torque models are evaluated in vertical upward gas-liquid two-phase flows. In our model test, the meter factor model of TFM considers the effects of the slip ratio between the gas and liquid phases and flow patterns. In particular, the gas holdup involved in calculating the slip ratio in the model evaluation is obtained from the REFCS measurements. Model test results show the torque model has better volumetric flow rate prediction accuracy than the mass and momentum models. In the present study, the ranges of the liquid and gas phases are Q_w = 2–30 m³/d and Q_g = 1–16 m³/d, it was found that the average absolute deviation (AAD) in the predicted volume flow rate is equal to 1.23 m³/d and the average absolute percentage deviation (AAPD) is equal to 7.69%. The evaluated results presented in this paper will allow better estimates of the volumetric flow rates of gas-liquid flows based on the combined TMF and REFCS measurements during the monitoring of gas well production.     

Sectional void fraction measurement of gas-water two-phase flow by using a capacitive array sensor

The sectional void fraction measurement for multiphase flow is usually influenced by flow patterns. Inspired by electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) devices applied to flow imaging (whose measured capacitance data contain both the flow pattern and sectional void fraction information), a capacitive array sensor is developed to realize two functions, flow pattern recognition and void fraction measurement, simultaneously; so that the void fraction measurement can be conducted for a certain flow pattern and the measurement accuracy can be expected to be improved. The main idea of the proposed method can be described as: firstly, the proper feature vectors are extracted from the electrical signal to identify the flow pattern (the BPNN model with GDX learning algorithm is used for flow pattern identification); and then the average of electrical signal is applied to estimates the void fraction by the corresponding calibration curve. An experimental platform of air/water two-phase flow is built (on which 3 flow patterns can be generated stably) to test the performance of the proposed method. The results support the correctness and effectiveness of the proposed method.     

A two-phase flow meter for determining water and solids volumetric flow rates in stratified,inclined solids-in-water flows

This paper describes the design and implementation of a two-phase flow meter which can be used in solids-in-water two phase pipe flows to measure the in-situ volume fraction distributions of both phases, the velocity profiles of both phases and the volumetric flow rates for both phases. The system contains an Impedance Cross Correlation (ICC) device which is used in conjunction with an Electromagnetic Velocity Profiler (EVP). Experimental results were obtained for the water and solids velocity and volume fraction profiles in upward inclined flow at 30° to the vertical, in which highly non-uniform velocity and volume fraction profiles occur.     

Model analysis for differential pressure two-phase flow rate meter in intermittent flow

Multiphase flow rate metering is a challenging problem, specially for flow patterns other than wet-gas. This paper brings forward a new comparative analysis of three differential pressure calibration models suited for liquid dominated two-phase flows, in a total of seven model configurations. First, the models are compared theoretically and classified in terms of the type of input data required. Then, experimental data of over 300 horizontal air–water experiments, for $1$” and $2$” pipe diameters, supports quantitative analyses of the prediction accuracies and sensitivity of the superficial velocities of gas and liquid to measurement errors in the model input variables. Finally, a method for assessing the decoupled measurement errors for the void fraction and gas velocity is shown, as these variables are typically subject to higher uncertainties. It results that, though the void fraction is shown to be systematically under evaluated in more than 10%, the total mass flow rate is estimated through the Paz et al. (2010) model with an overall root mean squared deviation (RMSD) of 5.75% for the $2$” data. Also, the use of gas velocity measurements, even if subject to considerable errors, decreased the RMSD for the gas superficial velocity by more than half for the $1$” data.     

Theoretical and experimental investigation for developing a gas-liquid two-phase flow meter

Despite the intricacy, inline metering of two-phase flow has a significant impact in multitudinous applications including fusion reactors, oil, nuclear, and other cryogenic systems. Since measurement of individual flow rate is prominent in various systems, it warrants the establishment of a flow meter system that can monitor the mass flow rates of liquid. In this regard, an approach was taken towards the development of a two-phase flow meter system in the present study. The concept involves two-phase flow through narrow parallel rectangular channels resulting in laminar, stratified flow with a slope at the liquid-vapor interface. The height of the liquid column at specific channel locations is measured for determining the flow rate. However, the geometric configurations of the channels and fluid properties are pivotal in ensuring accurate measurement. Consequently, theoretical and experimental studies are performed to investigate the correspondence between flow rate and change in liquid height. Based on the governing equations, a theoretical model is established using MATLAB®. The model investigated the intricate influence of various flow and fluid properties in the estimation of the mass flow rate. The experimental investigation was done with various conditions under different liquid and vapor volume flow rates for validating the proposed supposition and the theoretical model. Both the theoretical and experimental analyses showed fair correspondence. The proposed system estimated the mass flow rate within a tolerance of ±10% and showed potential towards the development of the cryogenic two-phase flow meter.     

A new method of two-phase flow measurement by orifice plate differential pressure noise

The mechanism of differential pressure noise of orifices in two-phase flow has been investigated and a theoretical model has been developed for measurement of the double parameters, i.e. mass flow rate as well as phase fraction (steam quality). The model has been proved in a set of orifice experiments in a two-phase flow system at a pressure range of 5.8–12.1 MPa and steam quality of 0.05–0.95, and a practical model has been fitted. The r.m.s. errors of mass flow rate and steam quality estimated by the model are 9.0 and 6.5%, respectively. The results of the studies create a method to measure double parameters of two-phase flow at once using only a single orifice.     

纵向多极阵列电导式两相流测量系统研究

针对优化后的纵向多极阵列电导式传感器,本文构建了基于DSP技术的两相流测量系统.整个测量系统包括激励信号发生电路、信号调理电路和基于DSP技术的数据采集卡及上位机软件,其中两相流流速测量采用基于DSP技术的频域直接相关方法来实现,数据采集卡由MSP430F149单片机和DSP5402构成,由单片机负责数据采集,DSP负责频域内相关运算,采用双口RAM实现两种处理器间数据通信与共享,单片机通过串口与上位PC机通信以实现数据的传输和采集系统设置.该测量系统在气水两相流流动环中取得了满意的动态试验效果.     

层析成像在冰水两相流参数测量中的应用

提出将电阻层析成像(ERT)技术应用于冰水两相流相含率、相分布等特征参数的测量,并设计了ERT测量系统,研究了基于图像的相含率计算方法.阐述了ERT系统的工作原理,提出了16电极ERT系统的设计方案.介绍了线性反投影图像重构算法(LBP);并结合数字图像处理技术,提出了截面相含率的计算方法.最后,通过一组实验验证了电阻层析成像技术应用于冰水两相流检测的可行性.实验结果表明:通过ERT系统可以获得管道内冰柱在水中的位置以及实时运动结果,直观反映冰水两相介质的相分布;另外,通过ERT系统可以近似地真实反映冰柱的相对大小,两次截面相含率测量误差分别为6％与2.8％.研究表明,ERT技术可以实现冰水两相流的实时在线监测,而且具有良好的测量准确度.     

Gas/liquid two-phase flow regime identification by ultrasonic tomography

A gas/liquid two-phase flow is considered as a strongly inhomogeneous medium with respect to high contrast in acoustic impedance distribution. Based upon a binary logic operation and a method of “time-of-propagation along straight path”, an ultrasonic facility for tomographic imaging of gas/liquid two-phase flow was developed. In this paper the principle and construction of this facility are briefly introduced. Emphasis is placed on the evaluation of its performance in flow regime identification and cross-sectional void fraction measurement. Several flow pattern models were used and the corresponding monitoring results given. Finally, limitations and possible future improvements of the system are discussed.     

Extracting reference voltages from measurement voltages for oil-water two-phase flow measurement of electrical impedance tomography

To apply electrical impedance tomography (EIT) for heterogeneous two-phase flow measurement, reference voltages have to be measured, which requires the entire pipeline filled with a homogeneous medium. Such process is often time-consuming, costly and infeasible in some cases. Reference voltages acquired initially could not be used later, because of electrical conductivity change of two-phase flow caused by temperature change or chemical reaction. It will be ideal if reference voltages could be extracted from measurement voltages. In this paper, a novel multiple measurements (MMs) method is proposed by data fitting and empirical formula to establish the mapping model from measurement voltages to reference voltages, and the effectiveness of the method is proved by the oil-water two-phase flow experiment. Compared with the measurement-scale feature (MSF) and best homogeneous (BH) methods, the proposed MMs method achieves 6.38% average relative error (RE) and 4.96% average volume fraction relative error (VFRE) in the test set. The work enables the accurate estimation of the reference voltage and thus the accurate measurement of the volume fraction of oil-water two-phase flows, which will broaden the application of EIT in the field of two-phase flow measurement.     

Micro wire-mesh sensor for two-phase flow measurement in a rectangular narrow channel

A micro wire-mesh sensor (μWMS) based on an electrical conductivity measurement between electrodes installed on the walls has been developed for gas–liquid two-phase flow measurements in a narrow rectangular channel. This measuring method applies a principle of conventional wire-mesh tomography, which can measure the instantaneous void fraction distributions in the cross-section of the relatively large flow channel. In two-phase flow measurement using μWMS the void fraction distributions in the narrow channel were obtained by the measured conductivities between electrodes arranged on each wall. Therefore, the gas phase structures and the bubble behaviors can be investigated in the flow channel with narrow gap. In the present paper, a μWMS for the air–water flow between parallel flat plates with a gap of 3 mm was developed and simultaneous measurements with a high speed video camera were conducted to compare the measured results in bubbly flow.     

用于两相流流速测量的极性导向式自适应算法

提出利用导向式自适应算法处理两相流的流动噪声信号,以估计出的流动噪声传输参数计算两相流流速,对这种算法的收敛性和流速测量性能进行了论证.当流动噪声信号量化为1 bit时,则形成极性导向自适应算法,它便于用比较简单的硬件实现快速运算,适于制作成专用的流速检测集成芯片.理论分析和实验结果表明,这种方法测量结果的实时性和分辨率优于相关法.文中给出气水两相流垂直管段与极性相关法进行对比实验的结果.     

液固两相流压降规律及超声法压降测量

液固两相流广泛存在于能源动力、石油化工等工业过程,两相流压降作为重要的流动参数,有助于流动建模及流态分析。建立液固两相压降测量模型,提出了一种结合超声多普勒及超声透射衰减的液固两相超声压降测量方法。搭建液固两相流动实验平台,对两相压降规律进行研究。两相混合流速和固相体积分数升高时,液固两相压降均逐渐增加。在固相体积分数为0.28%～1.37%,两相混合流速为0.9～1.65 m/s时,根据液固两相压降测量模型及Churchill模型的超声法得到的两相压降与差压传感器测量的压降平均相对误差为4.93%和5.10%,验证了测量模型的准确性。针对非均匀分布的两相流态进行压降测量,进一步拓展了压降测量模型的应用范围。本研究工作为非侵入超声法测量液固两相压降提供了方法基础。     

相关法测两相流的研究

本文探讨一种以单片机为核心的两相流测量用软件相关仪中自动跟踪峰值,以确定流体渡越时间的新方法。将该方法与快速相关计算法相结合,可进行实时相关估计,同时可以保证峰值位置确定的可靠性。     

气液两相流中上升气泡体积的计算方法

通过高速摄像机拍摄气液两相流中上升气泡的运动过程,分别记录不同直径的气孔所产生的单个气泡上升过程的连续图像,结合数字图像处理技术,提取了气泡的面积、当量直径、几何中心、速度、加速度等特征参数.并在此基础上,应用两种计算气泡体积的方法:几何方法和受力分析法,实现了气泡体积的初步计算.几何方法计算气泡体积是根据图像中气泡的形状构造一个与气泡体积相当的椭球体,进而计算椭球体的体积;而受力分析的方法则是通过分析气泡在垂直方向上的受力情况,根据牛顿第二定律推导出气泡体积的计算公式.并对两种方法计算出的气泡体积值进行分析对比,阐明了这两种方法适用情况,计算出单个气泡上升情况下的气相体积含气率.     

油水两相流中2种含水率计算模型比较

油水两相流广泛存在于石油开采、储运、化工、能源等工业领域。含水率是油水两相流系统的重要参数之一,含水率的准确测量不仅与采用的测量方法有关,而且还与计算模型有很大关系。结合电导式测量方法建立了电阻-电容并联网络含水率计算模型,并在3种流型下与Maxwell含水率模型进行了仿真和实验对比。结果表明,建立的并联电阻-电容网络含水率模型,在泡状流下与Maxwell含水率计算模型的误差基本相同,而在环状流、分层流下,测试误差均小于Maxwell含水率计算模型的误差,具有更高的测试精度,可适用于环状流、分层流、泡状流等流型。     

Calculation and measurement of the magnetic field in a large diameter electromagnetic flow meter

An idealized magnet model previously used in a simple coil configuration is applied to a more complicated engineering design problem, where an electromagnetic flow meter in diameter of 500 mm is used with five pairs of coils. The numerical results are compared with measurement data. The difference between theory and experiment and the possible causes of errors are discussed. It is shown that the idealized magnet model is practical for the design and the analysis of the flow meter. The work also shows that the traditional uniform field design based on two dimensional (2D) analysis is not suitable for this kind of flow meter. Thus nonuniform field and 3D analysis is needed.     

Simple installation for measurement of two-phase gas–liquid flow by means of conventional single-phase flowmeters

The paper describes a method of measuring the flow rate of the components of a two-phase gas–liquid mixture. The proposed method ensures the separation of two phases using a rather simple modification of pipeline configuration than using separating vessels to achieve this aim. The two components can then be measured using conventional single-phase flowmeters. The errors of the separating and metering installation are about ±(3–4)% in the flow rate range 3:1.     

Mass flow rate measurement of gas-liquid two-phase flow using acoustic-optical-Venturi mutisensors

The measurement of multiphase flow parameters is essential for the online monitoring of industrial production and energy metering. In this paper, a multi-sensor experimental measurement device is designed based on NIR, acoustic emission sensors, and throated Venturi. The measurement information is decomposed using modal decomposition, and the characteristic variables of the gas volume fraction are extracted by flow noise decoupling and light attenuation analysis. A new gas volume fraction model is proposed based on Gradient Boosting Decision Tree (GBDT) through feature-level fusion, and the Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) of the gas volume fraction prediction models is within 4% for the three flow patterns. A new flow rate model is established based on the Homogeneous and Collins models. Laboratory results indicate that the MAPE of the flow rate model is 1.56%, and 98.61% relative deviations are within ±20% error band. The study provides a new method for online measurement of multiphase fluid motion and a theoretical basis for sensing mechanism and measurement of multiphase flow.