Multiphase pipe swirl flow field observation with application of electrical resistance tomography

Meng Yang^1,2, Shuo Liu^1*, Lintong Hou¹, Jingyu Xu^1,2

¹Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
²School of Engineering Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

^*Email: liushuo@imech.ac.cn

ABSTRACT

In order to investigate the gas-liquid and oil-water swirl flow field phase distribution properties, experiment flow system was setup with blades mounted to induce gas-liquid and oil-water swirl flow. Electrical Resistance Tomography (ERT) was applied for the measurement of sectional phase distribution, together with Corriolis mass flowmeter and high speed camera, phase volume fraction properties and variation regular were carefully discussed. Results show that ERT can be applied for observation of phase distribution inside gas-liquid and oil-water swirl flow. Under experiment conditions, gas-liquid mixture forms gas-liquid stratified swirl flow with continuous gas column and gas-liquid mixture inside, whereas oil core comprise of crowded oil droplets and water inside oil-water swirl flow. Furthermore, when varies from 0.1 to 0.3, the gas column width keeps relatively stable, whereas gas column width decreases as Re_l increases. Besides, for oil-water swirl flows, sectional local oil volume fraction presents positive relationship with αo and Re_w. When α_o increases, the curve amplitude increases. When Re_w increases, the curve becomes sharp and thin. These observations are beneficial for investigation of pipe multiphase flow and application of ERT technology.

Keywords: Tomography, swirl flow, gas-liquid, oil-water

Industrial Application: General.