Flow Regimes, Holdup and Pressure Loss for Two-Phase Flow Through Vertical and Near Vertical Tubes

✍ Scribed by Spedding, P. L. ;Woods, G. S. ;Rahunathan, R. S. ;Watterson, J. K.

• Publisher: Curtin University of Technology
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 558 KB
• Volume: 9
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0969-1855
• DOI: 10.1002/apj.5500090315

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Two‐phase, air‐water, co‐current flow in a pipe, slightly inclined from the vertical at +86.5d̀, showed significant differences to both the corresponding vertical data and results obtained for other angles of inclination. The regime map obtained for the inclined flow was the same as that found with the vertical geometry at the higher gas rates where the annular flow regimes were present. The maps for the two geometries exhibited significant differences as the gas rate was lowered and the churn and intermittent flow patterns appeared. Two new flow regimes were discovered in the inclined flow data under these conditions, namely the slug‐blow through slug and the slug‐churn patterns.

The liquid holdup was, in general, greater with the inclined geometry, particularly at lower gas and liquid rates where the new types of flow patterns were in evidence. Models are presented which allow prediction of holdup with the inclined geometty for all patterns except the churn flow regime. The total pressure loss was, in general, higher for the inclined geometry. An explanation is presented based on the anisotropy of the liquid across the pipe due to the inclination from the vertical.