Study of intermittent flow characteristics experimentally and numerically in a horizontal pipeline

Abstract

The gas-liquid intermittent flow regime is the dominant flow pattern, which significantly occurs in the oil and gas industries. The intermittent flow is challenging in the hydrocarbon transportation systems and separators operation. The present investigation aims to comprehend the behavior of intermittent flow characteristics using experimental and numerical methods simultaneously. Superficial velocities of water and air were set in ranges of (0.18–0.84 m/s) and (1.22–4.9 m/s), respectively. The research was conducted in a horizontal pipe with a diameter of 44 mm and 147D long to study slug frequency, slug length, translational slug velocity, pressure drops, as well as slug's initiation location using static pressure data and high-speed camera tools. In this regard, the volume of fluid (VoF) method and SST k-ω model were also applied to specify film thickness, maximum Taylor bubble velocity, and to grasp behaviors of the flow field in more detail. The results revealed that liquid superficial velocity has more effects on slug frequencies than gas superficial velocity. On the other hand, slug initiation location, as well as slug fully developed length, is affected by the gas superficial velocity more than liquid superficial velocity. Moreover, both the gas and liquid superficial velocities have the same effects on translational slug velocities. The obtained experimental results were also employed to define a distinctive inlet boundary condition in the numerical simulation, which leads to a 65 percent reduction in the computational domain.