Very-viscous-oil/water/air flow through horizontal pipes: Pressure drop measurement and prediction

Core annular flow pattern, where a low viscosity liquid surrounds a very-viscous one, may be very interesting for heavy oil transportation. However, in oil production, oil and water rarely flow alone and gas is usually present. Despite several publications on liquid-liquid core annular flow, no much work has been done towards a proper characterization of the effect of gas on pressure drop. The aim of this paper is twofold: to provide a new data base on three-phase (very-viscous-oil/water/air) flow, and to propose a simple model for the determination of pressure drop.