Slug initiation and evolution in two-phase horizontal flow

Abstract

A series of two-phase air–water experiments was carried out in order to study the initiation and the subsequent evolution of hydrodynamic slugs in a horizontal pipeline. Experiments were carried out at atmospheric pressure, 4.0 bar(a) and 9.0 bar(a), and the effects of superficial liquid and gas velocities were investigated. The test section used for these experiments is 37 m in length, with an internal diameter of 0.078 m. To study the interfacial development, measurements of interfacial structures were made at 14 axial locations along the test section, with data acquired at a sampling frequency of 500 Hz. A large number of slugs were initiated within the first 3 m of the test section, with the frequency subsequently reducing towards the fully developed value before the end of the pipe. This reduction in frequency was strongly influenced by the magnitude of the gas and liquid velocities. The frequency of slugging was not strongly affected when the system pressure was changed from 1 atmosphere, to 4.0 and 9.0 bar(a), closely similar values being obtained at the 10 downstream locations. However, higher pressure delayed the onset of slug initiation, with “slug precursors” being formed further downstream as the pressure was increased. The statistical distributions of slug lengths and of the time intervals between slug arrivals were examined in detail and compared to several standard distributions. This showed that slug initiation may be reasonably approximated as an uncorrelated Poisson process with an exponential distribution of arrival times. However, once slugs have developed, there is strong correlation and the arrival time intervals, as well as the lengths, are best represented by the log-normal distribution.