A Comprehensive Mechanistic Model for Two-Phase Flow in Pipelines

Abstract

ABSTRACT A comprehensive mechanistic model has been developed for gas-liquid two-phase flow in horizontal and near horizontal pipelines. The model is able first to detect the existing flow pattern, and then to predict the flow characteristics, primarily liquid holdup and pressure drop, for the stratified, intermittent, annular, or dispersed bubble flow patterns. A pipeline data bank has been established. The data bank includes large diameter field data culled from the A. G. A. database, and laboratory data published in the literature. Data include both black oil and compositional fluid systems. The comprehensive mechanistic model has been evaluated against the data bank and also compared with the performance of some of the most commonly used correlations for two-phase flow in pipelines. The evaluation, based on the comparison between the predicted and the measured pressure drops, demonstrated that the overall performance of the proposed model is better than that of any of the correlations, with the least absolute average percent error and the least standard deviation.