Measurement of Liquid–Liquid Flows Using Turbine Flowmeter and Conductance Sensor With Multiheight Electrodes in Vertical Pipes

Abstract

Liquid–liquid two-phase flows are common industrial processes in chemical, petroleum, and other related fields. It is a great challenge for the flow measurement using the turbine flowmeter (TFM) in low-velocity liquid–liquid flows due to the serious slippage effect between the oil and water phases. The complex physical discrepancies between the two phases make the response of TFM vastly different from that in single-phase flow. This study proposes a system combining TFM and conductance sensors with multiheight electrodes (CSMHEs) to determine liquid–liquid two-phase flows. This study investigates the effects of phase distribution and slippage on the wheel hub drag torque. The model of wheel hub drag torque in different flow patterns is established, and a new variable meter factor model of TFM in liquid–liquid flows is constructed. Experiments in 20-mm simulated well reveal that the TFM can make accurate predictions of total flow rate and enable online measurements of individual phase superficial velocities. The absolute average percentage deviations (AAPDs) of superficial water and oil velocities are 2.01% and 7.24%, respectively.