Flow patterns and heat transfer of oil-water two-phase upward flow in vertical pipe

Abstract

In this paper, local heat transfer coefficients (HTC) and different flow patterns of oil-water two-phase flow in a vertical pipe were investigated. The test section was an 11 mm inner diameter (ID) copper pipe with a length to diameter ratio of 145. Water and kerosene (1.49 mPa s viscosity and 780 kg/m3 density) were selected as immiscible liquids and high speed photography technique was used for the flow pattern identification. The superficial Reynolds numbers ranged from 750 to 6000 for oil and 1000 to 11500 for water. The heat transfer experimental data showed a very strong dependency on the flow pattern. In addition, a heat transfer correlation was proposed for churn flow pattern. The experimental data were successfully correlated by the proposed heat transfer correlation with an average deviation of 10.6%, a standard deviation of 5.6%, and a deviation range of −20% to 3%.