VISIBILITY GRAPHS FROM EXPERIMENTAL THREE-PHASE FLOW FOR CHARACTERIZING DYNAMIC FLOW BEHAVIOR

Abstract

We systematically carried out oil–gas–water three-phase flow experiments for measuring the time series of flow signals. We first investigate flow pattern behaviors from the energy and frequency point of view and find that different flow patterns exhibit different flow behaviors. In order to quantitatively characterize dynamic behaviors underlying different oil–gas–water three-phase flow patterns, we infer and analyze visibility graphs (complex networks) from signals measured under different flow conditions. The results indicate that the combination parameters of network degree are sensitive to the transition among different flow patterns, which can be used to distinguish different flow patterns and quantitatively characterize nonlinear dynamics of the three-phase flow. In this regard, visibility graph can be a useful tool for characterizing the nonlinear dynamic behaviors underlying different oil–gas–water three-phase flow patterns.