Mechanism modeling for phase fraction measurement with ultrasound attenuation in oil–water two-phase flow

Abstract

When measuring the phase fraction of oil–water two-phase flow with the ultrasound attenuation, the phase distribution and fraction have direct influence on the attenuation coefficient. Therefore, the ultrasound propagation at various phase fractions and distributions were investigated. Mechanism models describing phase fraction with the ultrasound attenuation coefficient were established by analyzing the interaction between ultrasound and two-phase flow by considering the scattering, absorption and diffusion effect. Experiments were performed to verify the theoretical analysis, and the test results gave good agreement with the theoretical analysis. When the dispersed phase fraction is low, the relationship between ultrasound attenuation coefficient and phase fraction is of monotonic linearity; at higher dispersed phase fraction, ultrasound attenuation coefficient presents an irregular response to the dispersed phase fraction. The presented mechanism models give reasonable explanations about the trend of ultrasound attenuation.