1. A Two-Fluid Model for High-Viscosity Upward Annular Flow in Vertical Pipes
- Author
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Ruiquan Liao, Zilong Liu, Yahaya D. Baba, Almabrok A. Almabrok, Joseph X. F. Ribeiro, Salem K. B. Ahmed, Archibong Archibong-Eso, and Aliyu M. Aliyu
- Subjects
H141 Fluid Mechanics ,Technology ,Control and Optimization ,Materials science ,Flow (psychology) ,Energy Engineering and Power Technology ,Annular flow ,02 engineering and technology ,Two-fluid model ,01 natural sciences ,010305 fluids & plasmas ,H850 Petroleum Engineering ,020401 chemical engineering ,0103 physical sciences ,0204 chemical engineering ,Electrical and Electronic Engineering ,Porosity ,Engineering (miscellaneous) ,Pressure gradient ,vertical pipes ,pressure drop ,Pressure drop ,higher viscosity ,Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment ,H800 Chemical, Process and Energy Engineering ,Mechanics ,H300 Mechanical Engineering ,two-phase flow ,Friction factor ,interfacial friction factor ,Two-phase flow ,Energy (miscellaneous) - Abstract
Proper selection and application of interfacial friction factor correlations has a significant impact on prediction of key flow characteristics in gas–liquid two-phase flows. In this study, experimental investigation of gas–liquid flow in a vertical pipeline with internal diameter of 0.060 m is presented. Air and oil (with viscosities ranging from 100–200 mPa s) were used as gas and liquid phases, respectively. Superficial velocities of air ranging from 22.37 to 59.06 m/s and oil ranging from 0.05 to 0.16 m/s were used as a test matrix during the experimental campaign. The influence of estimates obtained from nine interfacial friction factor models on the accuracy of predicting pressure gradient, film thickness and gas void fraction was investigated by utilising a two-fluid model. Results obtained indicate that at liquid viscosity of 100 mPa s, the interfacial friction factor correlation proposed by Belt et al. (2009) performed best for pressure gradient prediction while the Moeck (1970) correlation provided the best prediction of pressure gradient at the liquid viscosity of 200 mPa s. In general, these results indicate that the two-fluid model can accurately predict the flow characteristics for liquid viscosities used in this study when appropriate interfacial friction factor correlations are implemented.
- Published
- 2021