Prediction of Slug/Churn Transition for Viscous Upward Two-Phase Flows in Vertical Pipes

Abstract

Summary In this study, we investigate the effect of liquid viscosity (μL) on the slug/churn transition in gas/liquid flows in vertical pipes. A total of 80 experimental churn-flow data points from two different sources are compiled as a data set, covering liquid viscosities from 17.23 to 586 mPa·s. Air was used in these studies as a gas phase with two different liquids, aqueous glycerol and a commercial synthetic mineral oil, flowing in vertical pipes of 0.0192- and 0.0508-m inner diameter (ID). The data set is used to examine the existing slug/churn-flow-transition models and provide further insights into the effect of μL on the transition. The existing models are categorized into two groups according to their response of the slug/churn transition to the increase in liquid superficial velocity (Vsl) on the Vsg/Vsl flow map. The first category exhibits a decrease in superficial gas velocity (Vsg) with the increase in Vsl at slug/churn (the transition concave to the left). The other one predicts an increase in Vsg with increasing of Vsl (the transition concave to the right). Analysis of the data set reveals that on the Vsg/Vsl flow map, the slug/churn transition moves toward lower superficial gas velocities as liquid viscosity increases and occurs approximately at a constant Vsg for low to medium Vsl. The predictions of these models were tested against the data set and poor results were shown by most models. The best performance is given by the Abdul-Majeed (1997) model. A dimensional analysis is applied in the present study to develop a new slug/churn-transition model. This analysis indicates that the transition is related to three dimensionless numbers, namely gas- and liquid-phase Froude numbers, in addition to the inverse liquid-viscosity number. An improved revision to the Abdul-Majeed model is achieved using these three dimensionless numbers. The revision enables the model to predict the transition for low, medium, and high liquid viscosity. The revised model clearly outperforms all the existing models for the present data and viscous data from independent studies. Furthermore, the revised model exhibits the expected trend against changes in pipe diameter and gas density.