Investigation and prediction of slug flow characteristics in highly viscous liquid and gas flows in horizontal pipes》.pdf

chemical engineering research and design 1 0 2 ( 2 0 1 5 ) 124–137 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Chemical Engineering Research and Design j o u rn al h o m e p ag e: w w w. elsev /locate/che rd Investigation and prediction of slug flow characteristics in highly viscous liquid and gas flows in horizontal pipes Y. ∗ Zhao , L. Lao, H. Yeung Process Systems Engineering Group, Department of Offshore, Process and Energy Engineering, Cranfield University, Cranfield, MK43 0AL, United Kingdom a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Article history: Slug flow characteristics in highly viscous liquid and gas flow are studied experimentally in Received 23 December 2014 a horizontal pipe with 0.074 m ID and 17 m length. Results of flow regime map, liquid holdup Received in revised form 28 April and pressure gradient are discussed and liquid viscosity effects are investigated. Applicable 2015 correlations which are developed to predict liquid holdup in slug body for low viscosity flow Accepted 1 June 2015 are assessed with high viscosity liquids. Furthermore, a mechanistic model is developed Available online 18 June 2015 for predicting the characteristics of slug flows of highly viscous liquid in horizontal pipes. A control volume is drawn around the slug body and slug film in a slug unit. Momentum Keywords: equations with a momentum source term representing the significant momentum exchange Gas-liquid flow between film zone and slug body are applied. Liquid visco