Slug flow of air—water mixtures in a horizontal pipe: Determination of liquid holdup by γ-ray absorption

Abstract

Two-phase pressure gradients and time-averaged values of liquid holdup have been measured for the co-current flow of air and water in a 42 mm bore horizontal pipeline. The majority of the data corresponded to the slug flow region, where rapid fluctuations in both wall pressure and holdup were observed. Instantaneous values of liquid holdup were also recorded by rapid scanning of a vertical cross-section of the pipe using the γ-ray absorption method, which enabled probability density functions (PDF) and power spectral densities (PSD) of holdup to be determined. From these functions, values of average film and slug holdups, average slug length and average slug frequency were estimated. These measurements facilitated the use of the Hubbard—Dukler slug flow model for two-phase pressure drop prediction which compared favourably with the Lockhart—Martinelli correlation over the X-parameter range 2–30.