Measurement of Water Holdup in Oil-in-Water Flows Using Three-Channel Conductance Probe With Center Body

Abstract

A three-channel conductance probe has been proposed to measure the water holdup in oil-in-water flows with low-flow rate and high-water cut. The probe consists of three pairs of arc shape electrodes with center body. The geometry of the electrodes in each channel has been optimized using the finite-element method. An oil-in-water flow test has been conducted in the pipe with 20-mm inner diameter, the values of total flow rate are in the range 0.5–7 m3/day and the values of water cut are in the range 50%–99%. Normalized conductivity of fluid mixture has been calculated to a chart of water holdup according to the probe responses. The experimental results show that the three-channel conductance probe has high resolution of water holdup measurement in oil-in-water flows. In particular, the flow rate influence to the water holdup measurement was significantly reduced.