Theoretical study and experimental measurement of the gas liquid two-phase flow through a vertical Venturi meter

Abstract

An accurate two-phase flow rate measurement is essential in many applications and industries such as; oil/gas, chemical, pipeline transportation and nuclear industry. This paper presents the findings obtained from two-phase flow rate measurements using Venturi meters coupled with conductance probe sensors. The measurement system and presented methodology can be used to directly and continuously measure the mass flow rate of gas-liquid flows without any need for using a separator. Most of the available data in literature on mass flow rate using Venturis in gas-liquid two phase flows are limited/valid to a certain flow regime. However, the experimental data presented in this paper covered a wide range of flows (i.e. bubbly, slug and churn flows). Three Venturis with different diameter ratios, β = 0.40, β = 0.55 and β = 0.75 have been employed using an air-water vertical test section. The effect of the Venturi’s geometry on the flow behaviour was also evaluated. The average void fraction and void fraction time series have been measured along the test section by nine different conductance probe sensors covering the convergent, throat and divergent sections. In addition, the two-phase pressure drop across the Venturi was measured. Moreover, a new correlation for the gas-liquid slip ratio was proposed in this paper, which is necessary for calculating the two-phase mass flow rate. The proposed slip ratio correlation showed more accuracy than the ones available in literature. It was found that the correlation proposed by Chisholm to predict the two-phase mass flow rate in Venturis with a diameter ratio, β = 0.55, shows the best accuracy among others such as; Murdock, Lin, James and Zhang correlations.