Experimental characterization of downward gas-liquid slug flow in slightly inclined pipes
Romulo L. P. Rodrigues1; Fernando E. V. Castillo1; Fabio A. Schneider2; Marco J. da Silva1; Rigoberto E. M. Morales1
1 UTFPR; 2 UNIBRASIL
doi:10.20906/CPS/COB-2015-1674
Resumo
Downward slug flow in ducts of circular cross section is a frequently observed flow regime in oil and gas transportation lines. The onset of this kind of flow is due to instabilities generated by irregular pipe topography. Therefore, to understand the hydrodynamics of the slug flow is paramount in the design of crude oil production lines as well as in the project of equipment involved in oil and gas operations. The goal of this work is to experimentally analyze and characterize the two-phase gas-liquid intermittent downward flow in ducts with inclination angles of 0°, -4º, -7º, -10º and -13º. The analysis was performed at different gas-liquid volumetric flow rates for which the slug flow regime was observed. An existing experimental rig in the NUEM/UTFPR labs was used to collect data. A pair of wire-mesh sensors to evaluate the flow structure, thus obtaining void fraction temporal series was employed. From those series, statistical distributions for the characteristic parameters of such slug flows were obtained. The processed signals were analyzed so as to identify the relationship between the slug flow parameters, their statistical distributions and averaged values alike as functions of the flow rates and fluid properties.
Palavras-chave: Experimental characterization ; two-phase flow; slug flow