Friction pressure drop model of gas-liquid two-phase flow in an inclined pipe with high gas and liquid velocities

Abstract

The calculations of friction pressure drop is the most complicated in multiphase flow. Understanding of the friction pressure drop in pipes are of great importance for many industry problems. The existing friction pressure drop models are generally based on low gas and liquid velocities in horizontal and vertical pipes. In this paper, a two-phase flow experiment in inclined pipe was performed. We report the effect of superficial gas and liquid velocities on friction pressure drop, the results indicate that the pressure drop increases with the increase in superficial gas velocity and superficial liquid velocity. According to the experimental analysis and assuming that the fluid in contact with the pipe wall at high velocity is in a liquid phase, we developed a new friction pressure drop model of different flow pattern. This model based on the correlation between the fraction factor and the superficial gas and superficial liquid Reynold numbers. Compared with the previous models, the predictive performance of the present model is good and remains basically stable.