Identification of Oil-Gas Two Phase Flow in a Vertical Pipe using Advanced Measurement Techniques

Abstract

The characteristics of flow configuration in pipes are very important in the oil industry due to its role in governing equipment design. In vertical risers, many flow configurations could be observed such as bubbly, slug, churn, and annular flow. In this project, two tomographic techniques have been applied simultaneously to the flow in a vertical riser: the Electrical Capacitance Tomography (ECT) technique and the Capacitance Wire Mesh Sensor (WMS) technique. The employed pipe diameter was 50mm and the superficial studied velocities were 0.06-3.0m/s for gas and 0.06-0.4m/s for oil. Several techniques have been used to analyze the output data of the two tomography techniques such as time series of cross-sectional averaged void fraction, Probability Density Function (PDF), image reconstruction, and liquid hold-up profile. The averaged void fractions were calculated from the output signal of the two measurement techniques and plotted as functions of the superficial velocity of the gas. The flow patterns were identified from the PDF of the averaged void fraction. In addition, it was found that both tomographic techniques are reliable in identifying the flow regimes in pipes.