Investigation on vibration characteristics induced by gas–liquid two-phase flows in a horizontal pipe

Abstract

The intrinsic characteristics of multiphase flow inevitably result in vibrations within the pipe structure. The evolution of vibration characteristics is crucial for monitoring the stability of the multiphase flow pipelines. However, under high liquid velocity condition, the influence of flow pattern on the gas–liquid two-phase flow-induced vibration (GTFIV) of the pipe remains unclear. In this paper, the vibration signals in the horizontal pipe under different flow patterns at high liquid velocity are measured by a vibration test system. Synchronously, images inside the pipe are captured to illustrate the flow mechanism. The results show that the α stable distribution model holds higher fitting accuracy than the standard normal distribution for the GTFIV. The random behavior of small-scale bubbles determines the structural richness of the GTFIV. The multifractal characteristics of the GTFIV are strongly dependent on the flow pattern. The formation of the gas plug leads to significant unevenness in the fractal structure of the GTFIV. The multifractal strength of the GTFIV gradually increases as the flow pattern transforms from dispersed bubble flow to slug flow. Some multifractal spectrum parameters of the vibration signal can be applied for the identification of flow patterns in the pipe.