Estimating slug liquid holdup in high viscosity oil-gas two-phase flow

Archibong-Eso, A., Okeke, N.E., Baba, Y. , Aliyu, A.M., Lao, L., Yeung, H., , and , (2019) Estimating slug liquid holdup in high viscosity oil-gas two-phase flow. Flow Measurement and Instrumentation, 65 . pp. 22-32. ISSN 0955-5986

Full content URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.flowmeasinst.2018.10.027

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Estimating slug liquid holdup in high viscosity oil-gas two-phase flow
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Abstract

Slug flow is one of the most critical and often encountered flow patterns in the oil and gas industry. It is characterised by intermittency which results in large fluctuations in liquid holdup and pressure gradient. A proper understanding of its parameters (such as slug holdup) is essential in the design of transport facilities (e.g. pipelines) and process equipment (slug catchers, separators etc.). In this paper, experimental investigation of slug liquid holdup (defined as the liquid volume fraction in the slug body of a slug unit) is performed. Mineral oil with viscosity, and air were used as test fluids. A 0.0254 m and 0.0762 m pipe internal diameters facilities with pipe lengths of 5.5 and 17 m respectively were used in the study. Electrical Capacitance Tomography was used for slug holdup measurements. Results obtained in the study shows that slug liquid holdup varied directly as the viscosity and inversely as the gas input fraction. Existing slug holdup correlations and models in literature did not sufficiently predict present experimental results. A new empirical predictive correlation for estimating slug liquid holdup was derived from the present experimental databank and from data obtained in literature. The databank's liquid viscosity ranges from 0.189 to 8.0 Pa s. Statistical analysis of the new correlation vis-à-vis existing ones showed that the present correlation gave the best performance with an average percent error, E1; absolute average percent error, E2 and standard deviation, E3 of 0.001, 0.05 and 0.07 respectively, when tested on the high viscosity liquid–gas databank.

Keywords:Two phase flow, Heavy oil, Multiphase flow, Flow measurement
Subjects:H Engineering > H850 Petroleum Engineering
H Engineering > H141 Fluid Mechanics
H Engineering > H300 Mechanical Engineering
Divisions:College of Science > School of Engineering
ID Code:48030
Deposited On:16 Feb 2022 12:57

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