A Multi-Phase Flow Research Facility to Study Oil-Water-Gas Flow Systems

Abstract A new flow loop has been constructed at Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN) to investigate oil-water-gas flows. The facility will initially support the development of an electroquasistatic multiphase flow meter (MPFM) to measure the individual oil-water-gas flow rates of unprocessed oil well streams. The flow loop is a 65 m recirculating open circuit system, and is constructed of 3-inch diameter pipe. There are clear horizontal and vertical test sections for flow visualization. Instrumentation includes several pressure and temperature transducers, and flow meters on the gas and liquid lines to measure the individual gas and liquid flow rates. Electro-pneumatic control valves arc installed on the liquid and air lines to facilitate control of the flow conditions, and a wide range of flow regimes can be generated. Operational control of the loop is implemented through a fully integrated computer system, which also handles the data acquisition. Quantitative flow visualization techniques, in combination with hot-film anemometry measurements are being used to study and characterize the different flow regimes. A new way of presenting flow maps that incorporates the pipe diameter and loop pressure is discussed. Preliminary results indicate that hot-film anemometry is a viable technique to obtain local volume fraction, and convection velocities of the gas slugs/bubbles. A block matching correlation technique is being developed to identify the different flow regimes, and estimate the velocity vectors of the different phases using consecutive frames from flow visualization.