A study of two-phase liquid-liquid flow in pipes

Graduation date: 1971The pressure drop for two-phase liquid-liquid flow is theoretically\ud predicted for each flow regime. Empirical correlations, which\ud are applicable in all flow regimes, are also presented for holdup as\ud well as pressure drop.\ud The experimental study covered bubble and drop flow regimes.\ud The discontinuous phase was injected by nozzle into the vertical,\ud 0.745 inch ID, 40 foot test section. The drop sizes were varied by\ud inserting wire screens downstream of the nozzle and also by varying\ud the nozzle size between .1875 inches and .375 inches OD. Photographs\ud of the dispersions were taken in order to determine average\ud drop diameter. The slip velocity between phases was determined by\ud holding the dispersion in the test section after a run and then draining\ud the sample and measuring the in situ concentration. The average\ud fluid velocity ranged from 5 to 15 feet/second and injection concentrations\ud were as high as 35% by volume. The dispersed phase fluids had\ud Redacted for Privacy\ud viscosities of 1, 9 and 200 centipoise.\ud The pressure drop at a given concentration and size distribution\ud was found to vary inversely with the average drop diameter; also a\ud polydisperse (widely spread distribution) dispersion had a lower pressure\ud drop than the monodisperse one with the same average drop size.\ud An inverse relationship exists between the pressure drop and\ud relative slip velocity. This effect appears to increase directly with\ud the discontinuous phase concentration.\ud The theoretically derived equations predict the pressure drop of\ud bubble flow within a 16% relative standard deviation.\ud Published data were used in evaluating the proposed equations\ud in other regimes. Annular flow pressure drops were predicted within\ud 8. 5% standard deviation and stratified flow within 13%.\ud The empirical correlations for holdup and pressure drop had a\ud standard deviation of approximately 25% when used with data from all\ud flow regimes