Comparison of Two Phase Liquid Holdup and Pressure Drop Correlations Across Flow Regime Boundaries for Horizontal and Inclined Pipes

Author(s):  
Atul Arya ◽  
Thomas L. Gould
1985 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 745-757 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Zahn ◽  
Lothar Ebner ◽  
Kurt Winkler ◽  
Jan Kratochvíl ◽  
Jindřich Zahradník

The effect of two-phase flow regime on decisive hydrodynamic and mass transfer characteristics of horizontal-tube gas-liquid reactors (pressure drop, liquid holdup, kLaL) was determined in a cocurrent-flow experimental unit of the length 4.15 m and diameter 0.05 m with air-water system. An adjustable-height weir was installed in the separation chamber at the reactor outlet to simulate the effect of internal baffles on reactor hydrodynamics. Flow regime maps were developed in the whole range of experimental gas and liquid flow rates both for the weirless arrangement and for the weir height 0.05 m, the former being in good agreement with flow-pattern boundaries presented by Mandhane. In the whole range of experi-mental conditions pressure drop data could be well correlated as a function of gas and liquid flow rates by an empirical exponential-type relation with specific sets of coefficients obtained for individual flow regimes from experimental data. Good agreement was observed between values of pressure drop obtained for weirless arrangement and data calculated from the Lockhart-Martinelli correlation while the contribution of weir to the overall pressure drop was well described by a relation proposed for the pressure loss in closed-end tubes. In the region of negligible weir influence values of liquid holdup were again succesfully correlated by the Lockhart-Martinelli relation while the dependence of liquid holdup data on gas and liquid flow rates obtained under conditions of significant weir effect (i.e. at low flow rates of both phases) could be well described by an empirical exponential-type relation. Results of preliminary kLaL measurements confirmed the decisive effect of the rate of energy dissipation on the intensity of interfacial mass transfer in gas-liquid dispersions.


Author(s):  
Ahmad Fazeli ◽  
Ali Vatani

Two-phase flow pipelines are utilized in simultaneous transferring of liquid and gas from reservoir fields to production units and refineries. In order to obtain the hydraulic design of pipelines, pressure drop and liquid holdup were calculated following pipeline flow regime determination. Two semi-empirical and mechanistical models were used. Empirical models e.g. Beggs & Brill, 1973, are only applicable in certain situations were pipeline conditions are adaptable to the model; therefore we used the Taitel & Dukler, 1976, Baker et al., 1988, Petalas & Aziz, 1998, and Gomez et al., 1999, mechanistical models which are practical in more extensive conditions. The FLOPAT code was designed and utilized which is capable of the determining the physical properties of the fluid by either compositional or non-compositional (black oil) fluid models. It was challenged in various pipeline positions e. g. horizontal, vertical and inclined. Specification of the flow regime and also pressure drop and liquid holdup could precisely be calculated by mechanistical models. The flow regimes considered in the pipeline were: stratified, wavy & annular (Segregated Flow), plug & slug (Intermittent Flow) and bubble & mist (Distributive Flow). We also compared output results against the Stanford Multiphase Flow Database which were used by Petalas & Aziz, 1998, and the effect of the flow rate, pipeline diameter, inclination, temperature and pressure on the flow regime, liquid holdup and pressure drop were studied. The outputs (flow regime, pressure drop and liquid holdup) were comparable with the existing pipeline data. Moreover, by this comparison one may possibly suggest the more suitable model for usage in a certain pipeline.


Geofluids ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Zilong Liu ◽  
Yubin Su ◽  
Ming Lu ◽  
Zilong Zheng ◽  
Ruiquan Liao

Churn flow commonly exists in the pipe of heavy oil, and the characteristics of churn flow should be widely understood. In this paper, we carried out air and viscous oil two-phase flow experiments, and the diameter of the test section is 60 mm. The viscosity range of the oil was 100~480 mPa·s. Based on the measured liquid holdup and pressure drop data of churn flow, it can be concluded that, due to the existence of liquid film backflow, positive and negative frictional pressure drop can be found and the change of frictional pressure drop with the superficial gas velocity is related to superficial liquid velocity. With the increase of viscosity, the change rate of frictional pressure drop increases with the increase of the superficial gas velocity. Combining our previous work and the Taitel model, we proposed a new pressure drop model for viscous oil-air two-phase churn flow in vertical pipes. By comparing the predicted values of existing models with the measured pressure drop data, the proposed model has better performance in predicting the pressure drop.


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