A unified fractional flow framework for predicting the liquid holdup in two-phase pipe flows

Two-phase pipe flow occurs frequently in oil&gas industry,nuclear power plants,and CCUS.Reliable calculations of gas void fraction(or liquid holdup)play a central role in two-phase pipe flow models.In this paper we apply the fractional flow theory to multiphase flow in pipes and present a unified modeling framework for predicting the fluid phase volume fractions over a broad range of pipe flow conditions.Compared to existing methods and correlations,this new framework provides a simple,approximate,and efficient way to estimate the phase volume fraction in two-phase pipe flow without invoking flow patterns.Notably,existing correlations for estimating phase volume fraction can be transformed and expressed under this modeling framework.Different fractional flow models are applicable to different flow conditions,and they demonstrate good agreement against experimental data within 5%errors when compared with an experimental database comprising of 2754 data groups from 14literature sources,covering various pipe geometries,flow patterns,fluid properties and flow inclinations.The gas void fraction predicted by the framework developed in this work can be used as inputs to reliably model the hydraulic and thermal behaviors of two-phase pipe flows.

A transient production prediction method for tight condensate gas wells with multiphase flow

Considering the phase behaviors in condensate gas reservoirs and the oil-gas two-phase linear flow and boundary-dominated flow in the reservoir,a method for predicting the relationship between oil saturation and pressure in the full-path of tight condensate gas well is proposed,and a model for predicting the transient production from tight condensate gas wells with multiphase flow is established.The research indicates that the relationship curve between condensate oil saturation and pressure is crucial for calculating the pseudo-pressure.In the early stage of production or in areas far from the wellbore with high reservoir pressure,the condensate oil saturation can be calculated using early-stage production dynamic data through material balance models.In the late stage of production or in areas close to the wellbore with low reservoir pressure,the condensate oil saturation can be calculated using the data of constant composition expansion test.In the middle stages of production or when reservoir pressure is at an intermediate level,the data obtained from the previous two stages can be interpolated to form a complete full-path relationship curve between oil saturation and pressure.Through simulation and field application,the new method is verified to be reliable and practical.It can be applied for prediction of middle-stage and late-stage production of tight condensate gas wells and assessment of single-well recoverable reserves.

Effect of droplet characteristics on liquid-phase distribution in spray zone of internal mixing air-mist nozzle

In continuous casting production,droplet characteristics are important parameters for evaluating the nozzle atomization quality,and have a significant impact on the secondary cooling effect and the slab quality.In order to study the behavior of atomized droplets after reaching the slab surface and to optimize the spray cooling effect,the influence of droplet diameter and droplet velocity on the migration behavior of droplets in the secondary cooling zone was analyzed by FLUENT software.Results show that the droplets in the spray zone and on the slab surface are mainly concentrated in the center,thus,the liquid volume fraction in the center is higher than that of either side.As the droplet diameter increases,the region of high liquid volume fraction on the slab surface becomes wider,and the liquid phase distribution in the slab width direction becomes uneven.Although increasing the droplet velocity at the nozzle exit has little effect on droplet diffusion in the spray zone,the distribution becomes more uneven due to more liquid reaches the slab surface per unit time.A prediction formula of the maximum water flow rate on the slab surface for specific droplet characteristics was proposed based on dimensionless analysis and validated by simulated data.A nozzle spacing of 210 mm was recommended under the working conditions in this study,which ensures effective coverage of the spray water over the slab surface and enhances the distribution uniformity of water flow rate in the transverse direction.

Analysis of Maximum Liquid Carrying Capacity Based on Conventional Tubing Plunger Gas Lift

China’s unconventional gas fields have a large number of low-productivity and low-efficiency wells, many of whichare located in remote and environmentally harsh mountainous areas. To address the long-term stable productionof these gas wells, plunger-lift technology plays an important role. In order to fully understand and accurately graspthe drainage and gas production mechanisms of plunger-lift, a mechanical model of plunger-liquid column uplift inthe plunger-lift process was established, focusing on conventional plunger-lift systems and representative wellboreconfigurations in the Linxing region. The operating casing pressure of the plunger-lift process and the calculationmethod for the maximum daily fluid production rate based on the work regime with the highest fluid recovery ratewere determined. For the first time, the critical flow rate method was proposed as a constraint for the maximumliquid-carrying capacity of the plunger-lift, and liquid-carrying capacity charts for conventional plunger-lift withdifferent casing sizes were developed. The results showed that for 23/8 casing plunger-lift, with a well depth ofshallower than 808 m, the maximum drainage rate was 33 m3/d;for 27/8 casing plunger-lift, with a well depth ofshallower than 742 m, the maximum drainage rate was 50.15 m3/d;for 31/2 casing plunger-lift, with a well depthof shallower than 560 m, the maximum drainage rate was 75.14 m3/d. This research provides a foundation for thescientific selection of plunger-lift technology and serves as a decision-making reference for developing reasonableplunger-lift work regimes.

Simultaneous measurement of velocity profile and liquid film thickness in horizontal gas–liquid slug flow by using ultrasonic Doppler method

Horizontal gas-liquid two-phase flows widely exist in chemical engineering,oil/gas production and other important industrial processes.Slug flow pattern is the main form of horizontal gas-liquid flows and characterized by intermittent motion of film region and slug region.This work aims to develop the ultrasonic Doppler method to realize the simultaneous measurement of the velocity profile and liquid film thickness of slug flow.A single-frequency single-channel transducer is adopted in the design of the field-programmable gate array based ultrasonic Doppler system.A multiple echo repetition technology is used to improve the temporal-spatial resolution for the velocity profile.An experiment of horizontal gas-liquid two-phase flow is implemented in an acrylic pipe with an inner diameter of 20 mm.Considering the aerated characteristics of the liquid slug,slug flow is divided into low-aerated slug flow,high-aerated slug flow and pseudo slug flow.The temporal-spatial velocity distributions of the three kinds of slug flows are reconstructed by using the ultrasonic velocity profile measurement.The evolution characteristics of the average velocity profile in slug flows are investigated.A novel method is proposed to derive the liquid film thickness based on the instantaneous velocity profile.The liquid film thickness can be effectively measured by detecting the position and the size of the bubbles nearly below the elongated gas bubble.Compared with the time of flight method,the film thickness measured by the Doppler system shows a higher accuracy as a bubble layer occurs in the film region.The effect of the gas distribution on the film thickness is uncovered in three kinds of slug flows.

Numerical simulation of gas–liquid flow in the bubble column using Wray–Agarwal turbulence model coupled with population balance model

In this paper,an improved computational fluid dynamic(CFD)model for gas-liquid flow in bubble column was developed using the one-equation Wary-Agarwal(WA)turbulence model coupled with the population balance model(PBM).Through 18 orthogonal test cases,the optimal combination of interfacial force models,including drag force,lift force,turbulent dispersion force.The modified wall lubrication force model was proposed to improve the predictive ability for hydrodynamic behavior near the wall of the bubble column.The values simulated by optimized CFD model were in agreement with experimental data,and the errors were within±20%.In addition,the axial velocity,turbulent kinetic energy,bubble size distribution,and the dynamic characteristic of bubble plume were analyzed at different superficial gas velocities.This research work could provide a theoretical basis for the extension of the CFD-PBM coupled model to other multiphase reactors..

Gas liquid cylindrical cyclone flow regime identification using machine learning combined with experimental mechanism explanation

The flow regimes of GLCC with horizon inlet and a vertical pipe are investigated in experiments,and the velocities and pressure drops data labeled by the corresponding flow regimes are collected.Combined with the flow regimes data of other GLCC positions from other literatures in existence,the gas and liquid superficial velocities and pressure drops are used as the input of the machine learning algorithms respectively which are applied to identify the flow regimes.The choosing of input data types takes the availability of data for practical industry fields into consideration,and the twelve machine learning algorithms are chosen from the classical and popular algorithms in the area of classification,including the typical ensemble models,SVM,KNN,Bayesian Model and MLP.The results of flow regimes identification show that gas and liquid superficial velocities are the ideal type of input data for the flow regimes identification by machine learning.Most of the ensemble models can identify the flow regimes of GLCC by gas and liquid velocities with the accuracy of 0.99 and more.For the pressure drops as the input of each algorithm,it is not the suitable as gas and liquid velocities,and only XGBoost and Bagging Tree can identify the GLCC flow regimes accurately.The success and confusion of each algorithm are analyzed and explained based on the experimental phenomena of flow regimes evolution processes,the flow regimes map,and the principles of algorithms.The applicability and feasibility of each algorithm according to different types of data for GLCC flow regimes identification are proposed.

Quantitative research of the liquid film characteristics in upward vertical gas, oil and water flows

The study of liquid film characteristics in multiphase flow is a very important research topic, however,the characteristics of the liquid film around Taylor bubble structure in gas, oil and water three-phase flow are not clear. In the present study, a novel liquid film sensor is applied to measure the distributed signals of the liquid film in three-phase flow. Based on the liquid film signals, the liquid film characteristics including the structural characteristics and the nonlinear dynamics characteristics in three-phase flows are investigated for the first time. The structural characteristics including the proportion, the appearance frequency and the thickness of the liquid film are obtained and the influences of the liquid and gas superficial velocities and the oil content on them are investigated. To investigate the nonlinear dynamics characteristics of the liquid film with the changing flow conditions, the entropy analysis is introduced to successfully uncover and quantify the dynamic complexity of the liquid film behavior.

Parametric study of gas−liquid two-phase flow field in horizontal stirred tank

Based on Fluent software,the gas−liquid two-phase flow in the horizontal stirred tank was simulated with SST k−ωturbulence model,Eulerian−Eulerian two-fluid model,and multi-reference flame method.The mixing process in the tank was calculated by tracer method.The results show that increasing the rotating speed or gas flow is conducive to a more uniform distribution of the gas phase and accelerates the mixing of the liquid phase.When the rotating speed exceeds 93 r/min,the relative power demand remains basically constant.The change in the inclination angle of the upper impeller has minimal effect on the gas phase distribution.When the inclination angle is 50°,the relative power demand reaches the maximum.An appropriate increase in the impeller distance from the bottom improves the gas holdup and gas phase distribution but increases the liquid phase mixing time.

Flux vector splitting solutions for coupling hydraulic transient of gas-liquid-solid three-phase flow in pipelines

The gas-liquid-solid three-phase mixed flow is the most general in multiphase mixed transportation. It is significant to exactly solve the coupling hydraulic transient problems of this type of multiphase mixed flow in pipelines. Presently, the method of characteristics is widely used to solve classical hydraulic transient problems. However, when it is used to solve coupling hydraulic transient problems, excessive interpolation errors may be introduced into the results due to unavoidable multiwave interpolated calculations. To deal with the problem, a finite difference scheme based on the Steger- Warming flux vector splitting is proposed. A flux vector splitting scheme is established for the coupling hydraulic transient model of gas-liquid-solid three-phase mixed flow in the pipelines. The flux subvectors are then discretized by the Lax-Wendroff central difference scheme and the Warming-Beam upwind difference scheme with second-order precision in both time and space. Under the Rankine-Hugoniot conditions and the corresponding boundary conditions, an effective solution to those points located at the boundaries is developed, which can avoid the problem beyond the calculation region directly induced by the second-order discrete technique. Numerical and experimental verifications indicate that the proposed scheme has several desirable advantages including high calculation precision, excellent shock wave capture capability without false numerical oscillation, low sensitivity to the Courant number, and good stability.

ASTUDYONTHEDEVELOPMENTOFTHENUMERICALMETHODTOTRACKTHEMULTI┐FREESURFACESINLIQUID┐GASPHASEFLOW

This paper is concerned with a remedy for interface smearing,which is usable when fixed (i.e. non moving and so non conforming) grids are employed. It is simple to employ and has been found to be rather effective. The paper explains its principle, describes how it has been implemented and presents some results obtained with its assistance. The results are compared both with those of earlier methods of interface motion calculation and with experimental data.

Local Flow Regime Transition Criteria of Gas-Liquid Two-phase Flow in Vertical Upward Tube with a Horizontal Rod

The upward multiphase cross flow and heat transfer in the vertical tube may occur in oil production and chemical facilities. In this study, the local flow patterns of an upward gas-water two phase cross flow in a vertical tube with a horizontal rod have been investigated with an optical probe and the digital high speed video system. The local flow patterns are defined as the bubble, slug, churn and annular flow patterns. Optical probe signals are ana- lyzed in terms of probability density function, and it is proved that the local flow patterns can be recognized by this method. The transition mechanisms between the different flow patterns have been analyzed and the corresponding transitional models are proposed. Finally, local flow pattern maps of the upward gas-water two-phase flow in the vertical tube with a horizontal rod are constructed.

SIMULATION OF GAS AND LIQUID TWO-PHASE FLOW THROUGH THE BLAST FURNACE DROPPING ZONE

A three-dimensional mathematical model,based on differential balances of mass and momentum,hasbeen developed to describe the two-phase flow of gas and liquid through the dropping zone of the blast fur-nace.Agreement between observed and calculated values verifies the validity of this model.On the basis of this model,various parameters for the surrounding of the dry zone of Blast FurnaceNo.I-BF of the Beijing Iron and Steel Company have been computed,from which a diagram for demar-cation of fluidization of coke and flooding of slag has been proposed.

Branch Quality Control of Gas-Liquid Two-Phase Flow Using a Novel T-Junction Type Distributor

In order to eliminate mal-distribution and ensure the side arm to produce desirable gas quality a special distributor is proposed. The experimental distributor mainly consists of a straight through section,a gas extraction line,a liquid extraction line and a side arm branch. A gas orifice and a liquid orifice are mounted at the gas and liquid extraction line respectively to control the outlet gas quality. The diameter of the liquid orifice was set to 2. 50 mm and three gas orifices with different size( dG= 2. 65,5. 00,10. 00 mm) were tested. The experiments were carried out at an air-water two-phase flow loop. The gas superficial velocity ranged from 6. 0 to 20. 0 m /s and the liquid superficial velocity was in the range of 0. 02- 0. 18 m /s. Flow patterns such as wave flow,slug flow and annular flow were observed. The gas quality of the side arm branch was found mainly determined by the flow area ratio of the gas orifice to the liquid orifice and independent of gas and liquid superficial velocity,flow patterns and extraction flux.

Phase distribution in horizontal gas-liquid two-phase bubbly flow

An investigation on phase distribution in air-water two-phase flow in horizontal circular channel was conducted by using the double-sensor resistivity probe.The variations of phase distribution with variations of gas and liquid volumetric fluxes were analyzed and the present data were compared with some of other researcher’s data and existing models. It was found there exists more complicated phase distribution pattern in horizontal flow system than in vertical flow. The radial local void fraction profiles are similar at the same measurement angle with various gas and liquid flow rates. However, an asymmetric profile can be observed at a given slice of the pipe cross-section.

Interfacial wave patterns and their transitions in gas-liquid two-phase flow through horizontal ducts

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RESEARCH ON METHOD TO CALCULATE VELOCITIES OF SOLID PHASE AND LIQUID PHASE IN DEBRIS FLOW

Velocities of solid phase and liquid phase in debris flow are one key problem to research on impact and abrasion mechanism of banks and control structures under action of debris flow. Debris flow was simplified as two-phase liquid composed of solid phase with the same diameter particles and liquid phase with the same mechanical features. Assume debris flow was one-dimension two-phase liquid moving to one direction, then general equations of velocities of solid phase and liquid phase were founded in two-phase theory. Methods to calculate average pressures, volume forces and surface forces of debris flow control volume were established. Specially, surface forces were ascertained using Bingham＇s rheology equation of liquid phase and Bagnold＇s testing results about interaction between particles of solid phase. Proportional coefficient of velocities between liquid phase and solid phase was put forward, meanwhile, divergent coefficient between theoretical velocity and real velocity of solid phase was provided too. To state succinctly before, method to calculate velocities of solid phase and liquid phase was obtained through solution to general equations. The method is suitable for both viscous debris flow and thin debris flow. Additionally, velocities every phase can be identified through analyzing deposits in-situ after occurring of debris flow. It is obvious from engineering case the result in the method is consistent to that in real-time field observation.

Numerical investigation on flow process of liquid metals in melt delivery nozzle during gas atomization process for fine metal powder production

Based on volume of fluid(VoF)interface capturing method and shear-stress transport(SST)k-ω turbulence model,numerical simulation was performed to reveal the flow mechanism of metal melts in melt delivery nozzle(MDN)during gas atomization(GA)process.The experimental validation indicated that the numerical models could give a reasonable prediction on the melt flow process in the MDN.With the decrease of the MDN inner-diameter,the melt flow resistance increased for both molten aluminum and iron,especially achieving an order of 10^(2) kPa in the case of the MDN inner-diameter≤1 mm.Based on the conventional GA process,the positive pressure was imposed on the viscous aluminum alloy melt to overcome its flow resistance in the MDN,thus producing powders under different MDN inner-diameters.When the MDN inner-diameter was reduced from 4 to 2 mm,the yield of fine powder(<150μm)soared from 54.7%to 94.2%.The surface quality of powders has also been improved when using a smaller inner-diameter MDN.

Application of time–frequency entropy from wake oscillation to gas–liquid flow pattern identification

Gas–liquid two-phase flow abounds in industrial processes and facilities. Identification of its flow pattern plays an essential role in the field of multiphase flow measurement. A bluff body was introduced in this study to recognize gas–liquid flow patterns by inducing fluid oscillation that enlarged differences between each flow pattern. Experiments with air–water mixtures were carried out in horizontal pipelines at ambient temperature and atmospheric pressure. Differential pressure signals from the bluff-body wake were obtained in bubble, bubble/plug transitional, plug, slug, and annular flows. Utilizing the adaptive ensemble empirical mode decomposition method and the Hilbert transform, the time–frequency entropy S of the differential pressure signals was obtained. By combining S and other flow parameters, such as the volumetric void fraction β, the dryness x, the ratio of density φ and the modified fluid coefficient ψ, a new flow pattern map was constructed which adopted S（1–x）φ and （1–β）ψ as the vertical and horizontal coordinates, respectively. The overall rate of classification of the map was verified to be 92.9% by the experimental data. It provides an effective and simple solution to the gas–liquid flow pattern identification problems.

Gas–liquid flow mass transfer in a T-shape microreactor stimulated with 1.7 MHz ultrasound waves

This paper describes the application of ultrasound waves on hydrodynamics and mass transfer characteristics in the gas–liquid flow in a T-shape microreactor with a diameter of 800 μm. A 1.7 MHz piezoelectric transducer(PZT) was employed to induce the vibration in this microreactor. Liquid side volumetric mass transfer coefficients were measured by physical and chemical methods of CO_2 absorption into water and Na OH solution. The approach of absorption of CO_2 into a 1 mol·L^(-1) Na OH solution was used for analysis of interfacial areas. With the help of a photography system, the fluid flow patterns inside the microreactor were analyzed. The effects of superficial liquid velocity, initial concentration of Na OH, superficial CO_2 gas velocity and length of microreactor on the mass transfer rate were investigated. The comparison between sonicated and plain microreactors(microreactor with and without ultrasound) shows that the ultrasound wave irradiation has a significant effect on kLa and interfacial area at various operational conditions. For the microreactor length of 12 cm, ultrasound waves improved kLa and interfacial area about 21% and 22%, respectively. From this study, it can be concluded that ultrasound wave irradiation in microreactor has a great effect on the mass transfer rate. This study suggests a new enhancement technique to establish high interfacial area and kLa in microreactors.