Intermittent two phase flow in horizontal pipes: Predictive models

A semi-mechanistic model for two phase gas-liquid slug flow proposed recently by Dukler and Hubbard has been modified and extended to apply to the entire intermittent flow regime. Flow predictions of the model proposed in this paper are compared with detailed experimental data recently obtained for an air-oil system. The model requires the use of empirical correlations for the slug velocity and the in situ liquid volume fraction in the slug. In addition, either the slug frequencies or length corresponding to the given design conditions must be known. However, calculated values of average pressure gradient and in situ liquid volume fraction are relatively insensitive to these latter parameters, and in fact, good results are obtained assuming a constant slug length. The paper includes a discussion of the limitations of the proposed model and the expected direction of further study required to extend its mechanistic aspects.     

水平和倾斜管内气液分层流界面稳定性

A viscous Kelvin-Helmholtz criterion of the interfacial wave instability is proposed in this paper based on the linear stability analysis of a transient one-dimensional two-fluid model. In thismodel, the pressure is evaluated using the local momentum balance rather than the hydrostatic approximation. The criterion predicts well the stability limit of stratified flow in horizontal and nearly horizontal pipes. The experimental and theoretical investigation on the effect of pipe inclination on the interfacial instability are carded out. It is found that the critical liquid height at the onset of interfacial wave instability is insensitive to the pipe inclination. However, the pipe inclination significantly affects critical superficial liquid velocity and wave velocity especially lor low gas velocities.     

Flow pattern in horizontal and vertical two phase flow in small diameter pipes

New data on flow pattern transition for gas liquid flow in small diameter tubes (4 to 12 mm) is presented. The experimental results are compared with previously published models for horizontal and vertical flows considered to be valid for medium and large diameter pipes. The effect of surface tension which might be expected to be important in small diameter pipe flow has been found to affect only the stratified-slug transition in horizontal flow. A modification to the model to include this effect is proposed.     

水平管气液两相分层流界面剪切预测研究进展

水平管气液两相分层流虽流型简单,但由于界面存在复杂的动量和能量传递,分层流的界面剪切预测至今没有一致的结论。本文从理论模型、实验模型、数值计算3个角度出发,详细阐述水平管气液两相分层流界面剪切预测的研究现状,得出不同研究方法的优势和缺陷。针对3种研究方法,指出理论模型通过模型简化和经验关联式来建立封闭模型,实验模型则在封闭关系上修正经验关联式,但由于简化假设和实验条件的限制,使得这两种研究方法对界面剪切应力的预测具有一定的局限性;数值计算能够弥补机理模型在流场细节等方面的不足,但能够提供界面剪切预测或封闭关系的工作很少。此外,对比了5种不同形式的已有模型对气液两相分层流持液率和压降预测的结果。最后展望了水平管气液两相分层流界面剪切预测的研究趋势,提出理论和实验研究需要提出更详细的局部模型,并考虑工程实际工况进行研究,发展针对气液界面计算的新方法,并为分层流提供封闭关系则是数值计算研究面临的挑战。     

Identification of stratified liquid-liquid flow through horizontal pipes by a non-intrusive optical probe

The stratification during the simultaneous flow of two immiscible liquids through a horizontal conduit has been investigated. For the identification of different flow patterns, an indigenously developed unique optical probe has been used. The presence of different phase contents and various interfacial features along the optical path gives rise to attenuation and scattering and makes the identification possible. The probability density function (PDF) analysis and the wavelet multiresolution technique have been adopted for development of an objective flow-pattern indicator. The range of existence of the different stratified distributions as predicted by the indicator is in close agreement with the maps reported in literature.     

Numerical modeling of three-phase stratified flow in pipes

The simultaneous flow of water, oil and gas is of practical importance for the oil and gas industry. These three phases are present in varying degrees of concentration in many oil and gas pipelines. In this work, a model has been developed to predict the values of the hold-up and pressure gradient for three-phase stratified flow prevailing in a horizontal pipeline. This information is usually the first step for analyzing the stability of stratified flow and developing transition criteria. The concept of extended velocity has been applied to compute the wall shear stresses in three-phase flow. The effect of process variables such as gas to liquid ratio, pipe diameter, oil viscosity and non-Newtonian character of oil on hold-up and pressure gradient has been studied to simulate the oil well conditions. Structural stability analysis was also carried out to check for the sensitivity of the model.     

Void fraction and pressure drop in two phase stratified flow

A procedure for computing the void-fraction and pressure drop in two-phase stratified flow over the whole range of flows from turbulent-turbulent to laminar-laminar, has been put forth. The results are in excellent agreement with those of previous investigators in flow situations where data are available. Simple curve fits of the theoretical results have been developed to compute the required quantities, as functions of the Lockhart - Martinelli parameters.     

Adiabatic homogeneous bubbly flow in horizontal pipes

The usual one dimensional method of analysis based upon the equations of continuity, energy and momentum is applied to the flow of homogeneous bubbly liquid-gas mixtures in horizontal pipes. The analysis results in a set of equations which are adequate insofar as they are able ro explain known phenomena of the flow. It is shown that the concept of the Mach number, applied to bubbly pipe flow, is physically meaningful in the same way as it is in gas dynamics and that the condition, Mach number equal to one represents a realistic criterion for flow choking. A friction-length formula is derived and verified experimentally.     

水平管气液两相变质量流流型从分层流向非分层流的转变

基于文献中提出的针对常规管中气液两相流分层流稳定性的分析,考虑管壁入流对流型的影响,通过公式推导和分析得出了水平管中气液两相变质量流流型从分层流向非分层流转变的准则。通过室内实验研究和预测计算,分析了3种不同的流型转变准则中多个入流流量下管壁入流对流型转变的影响。研究结果表明,实际水平井筒的单位入流流量通常较小,对本地管道单元流型预测的影响可以忽略不计,但是通过不断累积,使得下游管道中流动参数发生变化,从而影响了下游管道单元中气液流动的流型。因此水平孔缝管中气液两相变质量流的流型判别可以采用常规管流型判别准则,但要分段进行。     

水平管内油水两相流流型转换特性

以高黏度的油和水为工质,在内径为25.7 mm,长52 m的水平不锈钢油水两相流实验环道内对油水两相流流型及其转换特性进行了实验研究.根据实验结果定义了不同流动条件下出现的流型,绘制了流型图.对影响油水两相管流流型转换的各种因素进行了综合分析,利用量纲分析的方法得出了流型转换的准则关系式,并提出了一个较为准确的有关油水两相管流中反相临界含水率的计算相关式.     

Stratified turbulent-turbulent gas-liquid flow in horizontal and inclined pipes

A two-dimensional model for stratified turbulent-turbulent gas-liquid flow in inclined pipes is proposed. The gas phase is treated as bulk flow, but an exact solution is carried out for the liquid phase, applying the eddy viscosity theory to model the turbulent viscosity. The interfacial structure is taken into consideration using appropriate correlations for the interfacial shear stress. The model is capable of predicting the liquid velocity field, holdup and pressure drop given gas and liquid flow rates, physical properties, pipe size, and angle of inclination. The results are substantially better than the prediction of Lockhart and Martinelli (1949) correlation and better than the Taitel and Dukler (1976) model for stratified flow.     

Characterization of foam flow in horizontal pipes by using two-flow-regime concept

Foam has been widely used in numerous scientific and engineering applications. Although foam has relatively low fluid density because of high gas content, it can exhibit a viscosity value enormously higher – often several orders of magnitude higher – than that of bulk gas or liquid phase. Since foam typically exists as a complex fluid system with internal gas bubbles and external liquid phase, understanding and characterizing its flow behavior is very challenging.The objective of this study is to investigate the characteristics of foam rheology in horizontal pipes in a wide range of experimental conditions—two different pipe materials (stainless steel and nylon pipes with about 0.5 in in outer diameter and 12 ft in length), three surfactant formulations (Cedepal FA-406, Stepanform-1050, and Aquet-944), and three surfactant concentrations (0.1, 0.5, and 5 wt%). The experimental data can be collected in terms of (i) pressure measurements at several positions along the pipes and (ii) visual analysis of bubble size and bubble-size distribution during the shear flow. The concept of “two foam-flow regimes” consisting of high-quality regime and low-quality regime is at the heart of interpreting the experimental outcome.The experimental results showed that there were two distinct high-quality and low-quality foam flow regimes which could be identified by both pressure responses and direct visual observations. The results further showed that the high-quality regime was characterized by unstable and oscillating pressure responses represented by the repetition of fine-textured foam and free gas (i.e., slug flow), while the low-quality regime was characterized by stable pressure responses represented by either the flow of fine-textured foams (i.e., plug flow) or the flow of upper-layer foams and lower-layer liquid (i.e., segregated flow). These two regimes, separated by a locus of f_g^? in the contour plot, were shown to have different sensitivities to the change in gas and liquid velocities: (1) foam rheology in the high-quality regime was dependent upon both gas and liquid velocities because the lengths of fine-textured-foam and free-gas sections were altered to adjust to the new flow conditions, and (2) foam rheology in the low-quality regime was primarily dependent upon gas velocity because of the development of fine-textured foams with increase in shear rates, and was relatively independent of liquid velocity because of lubricating effect and drainage effect.The implication of these experimental findings is discussed for applications such as foam-assisted underbalanced drilling processes and foam fracturing treatments in the petroleum industry.     

Analysis of stratified laminar flow of immiscible liquids in circular and non-circular pipes

A numerical analysis has been made of laminar stratified flow of two immiscible Newtonian liquids in circular and certain non-circular pipe configurations. Solutions are given far viscosity ratios of 10, 100, and 1000 and for various volumetric flow rate fractions. Five pipe configurations are studied. In each case volumetric flow rate factors and power reduction factors are computed. It is shown that the circular pipe is the best pipe configuration for the two-phase flow having a viscosity ratio of about 10 or less. A flat bottomed pipe configuration is found to give higher volumetric flow rate factors as well as higher power reduction factors than the circular pipe when the viscosity ratio is about 100 or more.     

水平管气液二相分层流移动壁面模型的改进

针对基于Standard k-ε湍流模型的移动壁面模型在预测水平管气液二相分层流气相封闭关系时的不足,利用Launder-Spalding和Launder-Sharma低雷诺数k-ε湍流模型对移动壁面模型进行改进,其中湍流黏度和湍流雷诺数由修正湍流耗散率替代原定义的耗散率。通过数值模拟结果拟合出新的气壁和界面摩擦因子Blasius形式公式,计算结果发现,湍流模型的选择对固定壁面和移动壁面剪切的预测都有明显影响,其中Launder-Spalding低雷诺数k-ε湍流模型得到的气相封闭关系预测精度最高,在气、液相雷诺数9 000≤ReG≤50 000和20 000≤ReL≤30 000,压降预测相对均根误差为10.6%,为理论和实验研究提供了有价值的参考。     

An improved two layer model for horizontal slurry pipeline flow

A model for predicting head losses for coarse-particle or settling slurries has been obtained. Experimental data for isothermal flows of sand, gravel and coarse coal slurries in pipes of industrial scale have been used to obtain the correlations in the model. The model differs from previous versions in the way it deals with the concentration of the lower layer and in the role ascribed to the finest (–74 μm) particles. The fraction of contact load, which contributes sliding friction at the pipe wall, is found to be primarily a function of the ratio of the mean flow velocity to the settling velocity of the mass median particle size in the (+74 μm) fraction. The correlations are restricted to mixtures containing less than 35% (+ 74 μm) particles by volume.     

Flow pattern transition for downward inclined two phase flow; horizontal to vertical

Data on the flow pattern transition for gas liquid flow in pipes for downward 0–90° inclination was collected. Mathematical models were developed to predict the flow pattern in the whole range of downward inclination.