EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF TWO-PHASE GAS-LIQUID SLUG FLOW WITH A SLIGHT DIRECTION CHANGE
Rafael Fabricio Alves1; Andressa Carolinne Del Monego1; Cristiane Cozin1; Fausto Arinos de Almeida Barbuto1; Fábio Alencar Schneider1; Rigoberto E. M. Morales1
1 NUEM/PPGEM/UTFPR
doi:10.20906/CPS/COB-2015-2289
Resumo
Gas-liquid two-phase flow is very common in industrial applications, especially in the oil and gas, chemical, and nuclear industries. As operating conditions such as the flow rates of the phases, the pipe diameter and physical properties of the fluids change, different configurations called flow patterns take place. In the case of oil production, the most frequent pattern found is slug flow, in which continuous liquid plugs (liquid slugs) and gas-dominated regions (elongated bubbles) alternate. Due to its intermittent nature, slug flow is quite often a source of unwanted operational problems such as vibration, corrosion, erosion and high pressure drops. Offshore scenarios where the pipe lies onto the seabed with slight changes of direction are extremely common. With those scenarions and issues in mind, this work presents an experimental study of two-phase gas-liquid slug flows in a duct with a slight change of direction, represented by a horizontal section followed by a downward sloping pipe stretch. The experiments were carried out at NUEM (Núcleo de Escoamentos Multifásicos UTFPR). The flow initiated and developed under controlled conditions and their characteristic parameters were measured with resistive sensors installed at four pipe sections. A high-speed camera was also used. With the measured results the mean values of parameters such as bubble velocity and bubble length were evaluated in order to characterize the behaviour of the slug flow structures.
Palavras-chave: two-phase flow; slug flow; flow with change of direction