Enhanced Multiphase Flow Measurement Using Dual Non-Intrusive Techniques and ANN Model for Void Fraction Determination

Abstract

There are many petrochemical industries that need adequate knowledge of multiphase flow phenomena inside pipes. In such industries, measuring the void fraction is considered to be a very challenging task. Thus, various techniques have been used for void fraction measurements. For determining more accurate multiphase flow measurements, this study employed dual non-intrusive techniques, gamma-ray and electrical capacitance sensors. The techniques using such sensors are considered non-intrusive as they do not cause any perturbation of the local structure of the phases’ flow. The first aim of this paper is to analyze both techniques separately for the void fraction data obtained from practical experiments. The second aim is to use both techniques’ data in a neural network model to analyze measurements more efficiently. Accordingly, a new system is configured to combine the two techniques’ data to obtain more precise results than they can individually. The simulations and analyzing procedures were performed using MATLAB. The model shows that using gamma-ray and capacitance-based sensors gives Mean Absolute Errors (MAE) of 3.8% and 2.6%, respectively, while using both techniques gives a lower MAE that is nearly 1%. Consequently, measurements using two techniques have the ability to enhance the multiphase flows’ observation with more accurate features. Such a hybrid measurement system is proposed to be a forward step toward an adaptive observation system within related applications of multiphase flows.