The development of a conductance method for measuring liquid holdup in horizontal oil–water two-phase flows

Abstract

This paper presents the design and geometry optimization of a ring conductance probe for measuring the conductance of oil–water mixtures in horizontal pipes. Using the finite element method (FEM), we first investigate the sensitivity distribution of the electric field generated by a pair of ring-shaped exciting electrodes, and calculate the static response on the measurement electrodes under horizontal oil–water flow patterns; we then figure out the optimum geometry dimension with minimum deviation from linearity and high spatial resolution. Finally, we carry out the flow loop test in a horizontal oil–water two-phase flow pipe to obtain the measurement response of the ring conductance probe, and conclude some advantages for measuring liquid holdup with the newly designed conductance method.