Experimental Study on Pressure Drop of the Gas-Liquid Two-phase Flow in Vertical Pipes

Abstract

In order to study how the pressure drop of gas-liquid flow in vertical pipes varies with flow parameters as well as its calculation method, we conducted experiments in key laboratory of oil and gas exploitation in the Yangtze university. The experimental conditions were as follows: the working pressure from 0 to 3.5 MPa,the superficial liquid velocity from 0.06 to 0.23 m/s, the pipe diameter of DN60, and the pressure drop measuring distance of 8.0m. Experimental results show that liquid velocity and gas liquid ratio affect the value of pressure drop. The classical Beggs-Brill correlation was chosen to predict the value of exit pressure with an average error of 26.20% and an uncertainty of 14.49%. With the further research on the Beggs-Brill correlation, it’s found that the coefficient of drag coefficient of the path is the major factor which influences pressure drop. Finally, the Beggs-Brill correlation is modified by using the method of numerical fitting in the coefficient of drag coefficient of the path, and an average error and uncertainty of the modified Beggs-Brill correlation to predict the value of exit pressure are 12.92% and 8.86% respectively, so we can use the modified Beggs-Brill correlation to calculate the pressure drop of gas-liquid flow in vertical pipes more accurately.