Identification of two-phase flow regimes in horizontal, inclined and vertical pipes

Identification of two-phase flow regimes is required in many industrial processes; however, it is difficult to perform this objectively. This paper introduces the TERT-II prototype developed in Tianjin University and the process by which we applied it to identify flow regimes of air/water and oil/water flows in horizontal, inclined and vertical pipes. The corresponding software package of this system was developed under the Windows 95/98 platform. It included data acquisition, data processing, image reconstruction and identification of flow regimes. The air/water and oil/water experiments were carried out with different experimental set-ups. It is shown that identification of flow regimes and estimates of some parameters of two-phase flow are possible through image reconstruction, data analysis and processing, and a set of criteria is specially presented to identify flow regimes in horizontal pipes.