On the influence of inlet perturbations on slug dynamics in horizontal multiphase flow—a computational study

Abstract

Abstract When multiphase flows are modeled numerically, complex geometrical and operational features of the experiments, such as the phase mixing section, are often not resolved in detail. Rather simplified boundary conditions are prescribed, which usually cause less irregular dynamics in the system than present in reality. In this paper, a perturbation that randomly disturbs the secondary components of the velocity vector at the inlet is proposed in order to capture the experimentally observed instabilities at the interface between the phases. This in particular enhances the formation of slugs in the pipe. Different amplitudes of the perturbation are investigated. One observes that, the higher the perturbation amplitude, the earlier the slugs occur. On the other hand, sufficiently far away from the inlet, the flow pattern shows the same dynamics for different perturbation amplitudes. Hence, no specific frequency is imposed by the prescribed perturbation. The simulation results are validated by comparison with liquid level data from a corresponding experiment.