Search

In the modern aerospace industry, the importance of a lubrication system is self-evident for aero-engines, and the aero-engine bearing chamber return line is an even more challenging environment, as it involves a complex two-phase flow. The designer of the scavenge pipe needs to have an accurate understanding of the flow conditions in the scavenge pipe. This paper establishes a visual scavenge pipe test system. The flow direction was vertical flow, the test temperature was 370 k, and a high-speed camera was used to take high-definition flow photographs, which can observe the three main flow types: bubble flow, slug flow, and annular flow. Code program was created to analyze many pictures taken to obtain the apparent flow rate and perimeter of bubbles in the pipe under different flow conditions and to explore the gas–liquid two-phase flow in the scavenge pipe. A support vector machine (SVM) was used for data regression prediction, and the converted velocities of the gas–oil phases were inputted as eigenvalues to obtain the predicted values of bubble-flow velocity. The bubble-flow analysis prediction model established in this paper has a good prediction effect with root mean square error RMSE = 0.0172, which can more objectively and accurately describe the bubble-flow characteristics in the scavenge pipe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the gas–liquid two-phase flow within a Tesla valve under zero-gravity conditions is numerically studied. Based on the VOF model and the inlet two-phase separation method, the forward and reverse flow patterns and pressure drop changes in a Tesla valve at different inlet velocities were analyzed. At an inlet velocity of 0.1–0.2 m/s, the flow pattern was slug flow, the bubbles were evenly distributed in different positions in the Tesla valve, and the velocity difference between the main pipe and the arc branch pipe was small. When the inlet velocity was 0.4 m/s, the main flow pattern was annular flow, and there was a phenomenon of gas–liquid phase separation through different flow channels, which was related to centrifugal force. At an inlet velocity of 0.6–0.8 m/s, bubbly flow and slug flow coexisted, which was related to the uneven velocity. In the study range, the difference in the forward and reverse pressure drops of two-phase flow was smaller than that of single-phase flow, and the two-phase diodicity decreased first and then increased with the change in inlet velocity, reaching minimum values of 0.78 at 0.2 m/s and 1.44 at 0.8 m/s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Special Issue presents papers related to various aspects of hydrodynamics and heat mass transfer in two-phase gas-liquid and gas-dispersed flows in pipes or ducts. Two-phase gas-liquid and gas-dispersed flows are frequently encountered in energy, nuclear, chemical, geothermal, oil and gas and refrigeration industries. In the experimental and numerical studies of swirling flows in an aerial vortex reactor [[7]], it was found that, similar to the case of two rotating liquids, a strongly swirling jet is formed at the reactor axis and the entire flow takes on the structure of a miniature gas-liquid tornado. All of the abovementioned reviews and research papers have demonstrated the importance and usefulness of two-phase gas-liquid and gas-dispersed flow studies, using both measurements and numerical simulations for science and a range of applications. [Extracted from the article]

With the increasing demand for heavy oil, core annular flow (CAF) is an economical method to transport heavy oil, and many researchers have explored the energy-saving aspects of the CAF method. This paper presents a review of CAF energy saving and factors affecting CAF energy saving. Among them, the energy saving of CAF mainly concerns the changes in pressure drop and drag reduction efficiency; the factors affecting the energy saving of CAF mainly concern the problem of stability, the issue of restarting the pipeline system, the impact of a nozzle, the impact of fouling on the flow in the pipe, and the problem of oil–water accumulation. The aim of this paper is to provide a reference for the practical application of CAF in heavy oil transportation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding droplet sizes is crucial for modeling gas–liquid annular flow and has many applications across various industries. This paper presents a comprehensive review and analysis of experimental data on droplet-size characteristics in gas–liquid annular flow from the open-source literature. The existing models for droplet-size predictions are evaluated against experimental data. Based on the data analysis, we propose two new correlations to predict the maximum droplet diameter and Sauter mean droplet diameter. Model evaluation and parametric study show that the new correlations capture the effects of fluid properties and flowing conditions on the droplet diameters well, outperforming other existing models. The average absolute relative errors are reduced to 14.8% and 29% for the maximum droplet diameter and the Sauter mean droplet diameter, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A cyclone separator holds significant importance as the primary gas–solid separation apparatus in the industrial sector. Cyclone separators operate based on a fundamental principle, primarily harnessing the centrifugal force produced by the rotation of air in order to segregate solid particles from the gas stream and then collect them. In addition to the main vortex in the flow field, there are a number of secondary flows, which significantly impact the aggregation of fine particles and contribute to the heightened energy consumption. This paper provides a summary of the three secondary flows in a cyclone separator. These include the recirculation flow in the annular space, which is greatly influenced by the inlet particle concentration. Additionally, the short-circuit flow occurs beneath the vortex finder as a result of the collision between the incoming flow and the rotating flow. Furthermore, the eccentric circumfluence is defined as the deviation of the rotation center caused by the interaction between the upward and downward flows near the discharge. This paper aims to establish a theoretical framework to investigate the flow pattern tracking and the mitigation of secondary flows in order to enhance the operational efficiency of cyclone separators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern laver fluffiness is achieved by applying high-speed gas to a laver, which is generated by the opening and closing of a laver fluffiness control valve in a fluffiness system. To address the problems of the slow response speed and poor stability of valves used in the laver processing industry at present, this paper proposes a novel principle of a high-speed switching control valve, which has the advantages of a fast response speed, high stability, and long service life. The structure and working principle of the control valve are introduced, and the calculation equation of the valve's flow area is established. The flow field inside the control valve with different openings was numerically calculated in this study using Fluent. The flow regulation characteristics and flow field performance of the control valve were also analyzed. The results show that, with an increase in the valve opening, the influence of the flow area at the valve throttle on the valve flow rate was weakened. When the valve was opened, a vortex appeared in both the upper and lower cavities, and jet flow occurred at the throttle of the middle flow channel. As the valve opening increased, the pressure in the upper cavity reduced, while the pressure in the lower cavity increased. The vortex in the flow field intensified, and the jet phenomenon at the valve throttle gradually disappeared. At the same time, the main stream in the lower cavity gradually changed from an annular flow to a direct flow toward the valve outlet. Furthermore, the impact, collision, and vortex formation of the fluid caused energy loss of the fluid, leading to a decrease in the outlet flow of the control valve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the differential quadrature procedure (DQP), the vibrational response of functionally graded (FG) sandwich annular plates enhanced with graphene platelets (GPLs) and with an FG porous core is illustrated in this paper. The current annular plate is assumed to deform axisymmetrically and expose to a radial magnetic field. The Lorentz magnetic body force is deduced via Maxwell's relations. The effective physical properties of the upper and lower layers of the sandwich plate are obtained by employing the Halpin–Tsai model. Our technique depends on a new four-unknown shear deformation theory to depict the displacements. In addition, the motion equations are established via Hamilton's principle. The motion equations are solved by employing the DQP. In order to study the convergence of the DQ method, the minimum number of grid points needed for a converged solution is ascertained. In addition, the current theory's outcomes are compared with those of previous higher-order theories. The effects of the porosity distribution type, porosity factor, GPLs distribution pattern, GPLs weight fraction, inner-to-outer radius ratio, outer radius-to-thickness ratio, magnetic field parameters, core thickness, and elastic substrate parameters on the nondimensional vibration frequencies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates non-invasive techniques for annular two-phase flow analysis, focusing on liquid film characterization to understand the interfacial phenomena that are crucial for heat and mass transfer. Limited methods allow the study of the temporal and spatial evolution of liquid film, such as Planar Laser-Induced Fluorescence (PLIF). However, this method possesses optical challenges, leading to the need for improved techniques to mitigate refraction and reflection, such as Refractive Index Matching (RIM). This study utilizes an experimental annular flow facility to analyze both RIM and non-RIM PLIF over a range of liquid Reynolds numbers from 4200 to 10,400. Three configurations—PLIF RIM90, PLIF RIM40, and PLIF nRIM40—are compared from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives. In the quantitative analysis, key variables of the liquid film are measured, namely mean film thickness, disturbance wave height, and frequency. Variations in the analyzed variables indicate minor deviations, which are not likely to be caused by the technique used. However, all three methodologies exhibited errors that are estimated to be within a maximum of 10%, with a mean value of approximately 8%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is of great significance to explore the flow velocity characteristics of piped cars when they are started under different loads. In this paper, the flow velocity characteristics of the water flow around a piped car when it is started in the straight pipe section are studied through physical experiments. The masses of the piped cars are 1.5 kg, 1.9 kg, and 2.3 kg, respectively. The results show that, with the increase in the load of the pipeline car, the axial flow velocity in the front section increases, the absolute values of radial flow velocity and circumferential flow velocity increase, and the gradient of flow velocity increases. The positive radial flow velocity and negative circumferential flow velocity regions increase, and the distribution of positive and negative radial flow velocities and circumferential flow velocities is obvious. The gradients of axial, radial, and circumferential flow velocities in the annular section all increase, and the contour spacing becomes smaller and more densely distributed. The absolute values of the radial and circumferential flow velocities increase. The regional demarcation of axial flow velocity in the rear section is more obvious, and the average value of axial flow velocity in the high-flow-velocity area behind the vehicle increases. Additionally, the gradient of flow velocity increases. The absolute values of radial velocity and circumferential velocity increase, the gradient of velocity increases, and the velocity distribution is obviously regional. This study supplements and improves the theoretical study of a piped car when it is started and has certain reference value for the research and application of the hydraulic transport technology of the barrel-loading pipeline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hydraulic transportation of piped capsules is a new and energy-saving transportation mode, which is especially suitable for the long-distance and high-stability requirements of material transportation. In this paper, the COMSOL Multiphysics software was used to construct a mathematical model of the dynamic characteristics of a piped capsule moving in a straight pipeline, in which the boundary conditions were redeveloped, the inlet velocity distribution function was defined, and the physical experiment was carried out for verification. The dynamic characteristics were analyzed, and through the calculation of the energy consumption, the optimal piped capsule under the research conditions was obtained. The results show that the simulation results and experimental results for the piped capsule's average moving velocity, axial velocity, and wall shear stress along the cylinder wall were basically consistent, with a maximum error of 14.22%, 2.62%, and 20.13%, respectively. With a decrease in the diameter-to-length ratio of the piped capsule, the axial velocity of the concentric annular gap flow decreased gradually. The area with a large shear stress was mainly concentrated at the front and rear ends of the cylinder wall, especially the rear area of the support feet of the piped capsule. With the increase in the diameter of the piped capsule, the wall shear stress of the capsule increased. Finally, the superior diameter-to-length ratio for the piped capsule under the research conditions was obtained and shown to be ε = 0.4. The research in this paper will provide a theoretical reference for the structural design and dynamic mechanism analysis of the piped capsule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mass, energy, and momentum transfer processes between fluid-saturated porous media and the adjacent free flow occur in many natural and technical systems. The flow dynamics in the porous region and the adjacent free flow is strongly controlled by the mechanisms at the common interface and conditions on the outer surface of the free-flow. The present paper considers unsteady axisymmetric flows of viscous fluids through an annular domain with a porous layer covering a cylindrical solid core. Fluid flow in the domain filled with porous material and in transparent domain is described by Brinkman model and Navier Stokes equations, respectively. Analytical solutions for the dimensionless velocity fields in the Laplace domain are determined using Bessel functions, Laplace transform, and the appropriate interface and boundary conditions. The inversion of the Laplace transforms is done with the help of a numerical algorithm. In addition, the hydrodynamic permeability is determined. The dependence of the dimensionless velocity fields and of hydrodynamic permeability on characteristic parameters of the porous layer is numerically and graphically discussed. Since the velocity on the outer surface is given by an arbitrary function of time, the results in this paper could be used to study various filtration problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of the annular slit flow field is important for energy consumption, transport efficiency, and the force on the capsule for hydraulic capsule transportation. A combination of physical experiments and theoretical analysis was used to study the annular flow field around a capsule that was set in motion at different positions of a horizontal bend pipe. We study the flow velocity distribution of the gap flow field at different bend positions of the capsule by changing the position of the capsule at the bend. We found that the distribution of the flow field remained similar for different starting positions of the capsule, but the flow velocity increased suddenly and dramatically at the inflow section of the ring gap. We recorded different velocity distributions of the annular gap on the concave and convex sides of the pipe; on the convex side, the streamline of the gap was smooth, and the change in velocity was relatively small. The flow velocity of the slit flow varied more notably on the concave side of the pipe, and there was a greater fluctuation in the flow velocity distribution. Because the effects of the capsule and the pipe on water flow were not the same, we found large fluctuations in gap flow velocity at different measuring points on the concave side. Gap flow velocity was most influenced by axial flow velocity. We found that the axial flow velocity was about one order of magnitude greater than the radial flow velocity or circumferential flow velocity. In this paper, we analyze the changes in the ring gap flow field of the capsule at different bending positions and analyze the reasons for the flow field changes and the flow velocity distribution law. This is of great significance to the study of the transport efficiency and energy consumption of the capsule. The results of this paper complement the study of capsule initiation at different positions in the bend and provide a reference point in terms of transport efficiency, energy consumption, and capsule stress. The results of this study promote the development of hydraulic capsule transportation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microchannel flow boiling is an efficient cooling method for high-heat-flux electronic devices. To understand the flow boiling regime in a T-shaped microchannel, this paper prepared T-shaped microchannels of different sizes and designed an experimental platform for the visualization of flow boiling in microchannels, and aimed to study the evolution characteristics of two-phase flow patterns in T-shaped microchannels. The influences of the flow rate and channel size on the boiling flow pattern inside a T-shaped microchannel were experimentally observed and quantitatively described. The results indicate that the occurrence position of the vaporization core gradually migrates from branch channel to main channel as the wall temperature increases. The flow boiling at the bifurcation of the T-shaped microchannel mainly includes the extrusion fracture flow, bubble flow, plug–annular alternating flow and annular flow, in which the annular flow can be further divided into the intermittent annular flow and the stable annular flow. In addition, a high flow rate and small channel size can lead to the disappearance of the bubble flow, and the presence of the bubble flow delays the appearance of the annular flow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different techniques are used to analyze annular flow, but the more interesting ones are those techniques that do not perturb the flow and provide enough resolution to clearly distinguish the interfacial phenomena that take place at the interface, especially the disturbance waves (DW) and the ripple waves (DW). The understanding of these events is important because it influences the heat and mass transfer taking place through the thin film formed near the walls in this flow regime. The laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) and the three-electrode conductance probe are two commonly used techniques to study experimentally annular flow phenomena. In this paper, a set of experiments at different temperatures of 20 °C, 30 °C and 40 °C and different liquid Reynolds numbers have been performed in the annular flow regime, the characteristic of the DW and RW as average height and frequency of these waves has been measured by both techniques LIF and conductance probes. In addition, we also measured the mean film thickness. It was found that the mean film thickness and the DW height are practically the same when measured by both techniques; however, the height of the RW is smaller when measured by the conductance probe and this difference diminishes when the temperature increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two-phase annular flow in vertical pipes is one of the most common and important flow regimes in fluid mechanics, particularly in the field of building drainage systems where discharges to the vertical pipe are random and the flow is unsteady. With the development of experimental techniques and analytical methods, the understanding of the fundamental mechanism of the annular two-phase flow has been significantly advanced, such as liquid film development, evolution of the disturbance wave, and droplet entrainment mechanism. Despite the hundreds of papers published so far, the mechanism of annular flow remains incompletely understood. Therefore, this paper summarizes the research on two-phase annular flow in vertical pipes mainly in the last two decades. The review is mainly divided into two parts, i.e., the investigation methodologies and the advancement of knowledge. Different experimental techniques and numerical simulations are compared to highlight their advantages and challenges. Advanced underpinning physics of the mechanism is summarized in several groups including the wavy liquid film, droplet behaviour, entrainment and void fraction. Challenges and recommendations are summarized based on the literature cited in this review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The efficiency of annular-nozzle ejectors serving as components of complex technical systems interacting with high-temperature media in engines and in the field of energy technologies is not linearly related to the gas-dynamic characteristics of the flows formed in the device. In this paper, we have analyzed the results of numerical and experimental studies of gas jets in an annular-nozzle air ejector. The regression equations built according to the circumscribed central composite design described the relationship between a pressure drop and the structural parameters of the nozzle with the speed and mass flow rates of the airflows, including error rates of no more than 15 percent. A two-factor optimization based on Harington's generalized desirability function was performed to obtain a relatively accurate estimate of the ejector efficiency under the influence of the structural and operating parameters. An optimization method based on the combination of response surface methodology and the desirability function approach, allowing simultaneous consideration of all responses, made it possible to simultaneously optimize multiple conflicting objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an advanced flexible dynamic sealing technology, the leakage characteristics of a finger seal (FS) is one of the key research areas in this technology field. Based on the fractal theory, this paper establishes a mathematical model of the FS main leakage rate considering the fractal wear effect by taking into account the influence of the wear height on the basis of the eccentric annular gap flow equation. Based on the Hagen-Poiseuille law and the fractal geometry theory of porous media, a mathematical model of the FS side leakage rate considering the fractal porous media seepage effect is developed. Then, a mathematical model of the FS total leakage rate is established. The results show that the mathematical model of the FS total leakage rate is verified with the test results, the maximum error rate is less than 5%, and the mathematical model of the FS total leakage rate is feasible. With the gradual increase in working conditions and eccentricity, the FS main leakage rate gradually increases. In addition, the effects of the fractal dimension, fractal roughness parameters and porosity after loading on the FS main leakage rate are negligible. As the fractal dimension of tortuosity after loading gradually decreases, the fractal dimension of porosity after loading gradually increases, and the FS side leakage rate gradually increases. As the porosity after loading gradually increases, the FS side leakage rate gradually increases. Under different working conditions, different fractal characteristic parameters and different porosities after loading, the weight of the FS main leakage rate is much greater than that of the FS side leakage rate by more than 95%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Annular pressure has been recognized as one of the most challenging problems in the petroleum industry, posing a series of threats to wellbore integrity. Annular pressure caused by thermal expansion during the cement hydration process is rarely studied by researchers. In light of the hydration heat generation process, a kinetics model for cement hydration under different curing temperatures is demonstrated in this paper. Considering interactions between temperature and cement hydration, a transient temperature prediction model during well cementing is built. On the basis of these assumptions, the prediction model of annular pressure is established, considering the change in cement temperature and the change in annulus volume. Using the models illustrated in this paper, a series of numerical simulations are performed. The changing roles of transient cement hydration degree and temperature in wellbores are analyzed thoroughly. The annular pressure during well cementing shows a rapid increase and then a decrease, which is similar to that of the temperature. In addition, a sensitive analysis of annular pressure is conducted. The analysis shows that the annular pressure increases with the geothermal gradient, the cement hydration heat, and the wellbore diameter. Suggestions and conclusions can provide safety guidance for the management of annular pressure during well cementing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gas–liquid two-phase flow is very common in industrial pipelines. Flow regime identification is the first step to design, analyze, and operate the gas–liquid system successfully. The purpose of this study is to develop a methodology for identification of a two-phase flow regime using post signal processing techniques, namely Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and Probabilistic Density Function (PDF). Three different flow regimes were simulated in a 6 m horizontal pipe with a 0.050 m inner diameter. A Level-Set (LS) method coupled with Volume of Fluid (VOF) method is used to model the air–water interface. After validation of the numerical method, dynamic pressure readings were collected with the intent to identify the associated flow regimes by post-processing of these signals. It was concluded that dynamic pressure signals of different flow regimes show different characteristics (like dominant frequency, FFT amplitude, PDF location and PDF magnitude) in the time and frequency domains. These characteristics can be potentially used as differentiating factors to distinguish different flow regimes. This research is limited to stratified, slug, and annular flow in the horizontal pipe. This paper uses a new approach to identify the flow regime in a horizontal pipe by Fast Fourier Transform and Probability Density Function of dynamic pressure readings obtained by using numerical simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most severe problems in power plants, petroleum and petrochemical industries is the accurate determination of phase fractions in two-phase flows. In this paper, we carried out experimental investigations to validate the simulations for water–air, two-phase flow in an annular pattern. To this end, we performed finite element simulations with COMSOL Multiphysics, conducted experimental investigations in concave electrode shape and, finally, compared both results. Our experimental set-up was constructed for water–air, two-phase flow in a vertical tube. Afterwards, the simulated models in the water–air condition were validated against the measurements. Our results show a relatively low relative error between the simulation and experiment indicating the validation of our simulations. Finally, we designed an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model in order to predict the void fractions in any two-phase flow consisting of petroleum products as the liquid phase in pipelines. In this regard, we simulated a range of various liquid–gas, two-phase flows including crude oil, oil, diesel fuel, gasoline and water using the validated simulation. We developed our ANN model by a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) neural network in MATLAB 9.12.0.188 software. The input parameters of the MLP model were set to the capacitance of the sensor and the liquid phase material, whereas the output parameter was set to the void fraction. The void fraction was predicted with an error of less than 2% for different liquids via our proposed methodology. Using the presented novel metering system, the void fraction of any annular two-phase flow with different liquids can be precisely measured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entrainment of liquid from the film surface by high-velocity gas stream strongly affects mass, momentum and heat transfer in annular flow. The construction of basic assumptions for simplified physical models of the flow, as well as validation of numerical models, requires detailed experimental investigation of droplet entrainment process and the preceding stages of film surface evolution. The present paper analyzes the achievements and perspectives of application of various experimental approaches to qualitative and quantitative characterization of droplet entrainment. Optical visualization in at least two planes simultaneously may provide enough information on transitional liquid structures and detaching droplets, given that the side-view image is not obscured by the wall film. A planar LIF technique is not suitable for this purpose, since real objects are hidden by curved agitated interface and replaced by optical artifacts. To characterize the waves evolving into the transitional liquid structures, film thickness measurements in the plane of the wall are necessary. Such measurements can be achieved by intensity-based optical techniques, such as Brightness-Based LIF, near-infrared or X-ray attenuation techniques, combined with the side-view observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Melt-blowing technology is an important method for directly preparing micro-nanofiber materials by drawing polymer melts with high temperature and high velocity air flow. During the drawing process, the melt-blowing fiber not only undergoes a phase change, but also has an extremely complex coupling effect with the drawing airflow. Therefore, in the numerical calculation of the flow field, the existence of melt-blowing fibers is often ignored. In this paper, based on the volume of fluid method, a numerical study of the flexible fiber/air-coupling flow field of an annular melt-blowing die is carried out with the aid of computational fluid dynamics software. The results show that the pressure distribution in the different central symmetry planes of the ring die at the same time was basically the same. However, the velocity distribution may have been different; the velocity on the spinning line varied with time; the pressure changes on the spinning line were small; and velocity fluctuations around the spinning line could cause whiplash of the fibers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vibration excited by gas-liquid multiphase flow endangers the structural instability and fatigue life of subsea jumpers due to the cyclic behavior. In this paper, the multiphase flow-induced vibration (MFIV) of an M-shaped jumper is numerically investigated using a two-way fluid-structure interaction (FSI) approach. The effect of gas-liquid ratios (β) ranging from 1:1 to 1:5 is examined with a fixed flow velocity of 3 m/s, and the influence of mixture velocity (vm) in the range 2–6 m/s is evaluated with a gas-liquid ratio of 1:1. The numerical results reveal the detailed flow evolution of the gas-liquid mixture along the jumper. With inflow of slugs, the pattern successively experiences the slug flow, wavy flow, imperfect annular flow, stratified flow, churn flow, wavy flow and imperfect annular flow in the pipe segments when β = 1:1 and vm = 3 m/s. This development of mixture flow is significantly altered by changing either the gas-liquid ratio or the mixture velocity. In comparison with the flow evolution in a stationary jumper, the pattern in each pipe segment is not been substantially changed due to the limited response amplitude of order of 10−3D (D is the outer diameter of the jumper). Due to the complex flow evolution, the pressure acting on the six bends of the jumper fluctuate in multiple frequencies. Nevertheless, the dominant fluctuation frequency is approximately equal to the inflow slug frequency. Moreover, the inflow slug frequency also dominates the in-plane response of the jumper. Both the in-plane and out-of-plane responses of the jumper exhibit spatial-temporal variation characteristics. The most vigorous oscillation occurs at the midspan of the jumper. As β is reduced, the out-of-plane response of the jumper midspan is suppressed while the in-plane response is enhanced. In contrast, both the in-plane and out-of-plane oscillations of the jumper midspan are amplified with the increase of vm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the design process for a two-pipe vehicles transportation system, some simple mathematical models are required to quickly calculate the main characteristics of the system. For this purpose, an easy-to-handle mathematical model for the concentric annular gap flow is proposed, and the velocity expression for the concentric annular gap flow is solved using cylindrical coordinates. According to the force characteristics of the two-pipe vehicles, a mathematical model of the two-pipe vehicle motion is established, and the motion and force balance equations of the two-pipe vehicles are deduced. The experimental results are in good agreement with the model results. The factors affecting the two-pipe vehicles movement speed are analyzed, and the standard regression coefficient method in multiple regression analysis is used to determine the influence degree of each factor on the movement speed of the two-pipe vehicles. The research presented in this paper not only enriches the annular gap flow theory, but also provides a theoretical reference for the development of the two-pipe vehicles transportation technology and provides technical support for the realization of relevant industrial applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes and researches a novel cylinder-type FOWT using a neutrally buoyant double-layer torus structure with annular flow; its oscillatory motion in severe sea conditions is controlled by a spinning top device designed as a neutrally buoyant double-layer torus structure with annular flow water in a torus structure with a small internal radius, and welded to the periphery of the cylinder-type FOWT underwater buoyancy-providing part. The rotational axis retention effect and the gyroscopic effect are considered appropriate approaches to suppress the oscillating motion of FOWT. To obtain a better hydrodynamic response, the scale of the torus structure, such as its radius, the radius of the internal annular flow water, and the angular velocity of the annular flow water are taken as the design parameters, and a large number of comparative calculations based on the fluid–solid coupling theory of potential flow are carried out to determine the appropriate design parameters. Eventually, on the basis of the obtained suitable design parameters, the proposed conceptual design approach is demonstrated to be feasible in view of the energy consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an excellent reducing agent, lime has an important role in the steel production process. Annular Shaft Kiln (ASK) has been widely used in the lime production industry for its low cost, low footprint, high chemical activity, easy construction, and easy maintenance. Due to the high temperature generated inside ASK during operation, it is hard to observe the limestone decomposition process and the field distribution in the lime kiln. The simulation analysis of temperature field, velocity field and decomposition field in the limestone calcination process by CFD provides practical guidance for future lime product quality control, ASK design and operation parameters' control. This study is based on an ASK that was put into production. Based on the finite volume method, this paper combines the porous medium model and the shrinking core model to establish a set of mathematical models that can describe the temperature and flow field distribution inside the ASK, as well as the limestone decomposition process and the heat and mass transfer process inside the ASK. According to the feedback from the production site, the mathematical model is in good agreement with the production results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oil–water annular flow is an efficient method of heavy oil transportation for energy-saving. To deeply study the influencing factors of the energy savings of oil–water annular flow, this paper compares the interface fluctuation and energy-saving situation of oil–water annular flow under different pipe structures (such as straight pipe, sudden-contraction pipe, and elbow pipe), flow parameters, and fluid properties. In the straight pipe, the flow parameters can impact the oil–water annular flow pattern and the energy savings, and the interface fluctuation is consistent with the energy savings. The stable oil–water core annular flow has slight interface fluctuation and significant energy savings. At the same time, the influences of pipe structure and fluid properties on energy saving are also analyzed. In the sudden-contraction pipe, the oil–water interface fluctuates, largely due to the sharp changes in flow cross-section, which leads to reduced energy savings. In the elbow, the oil–water interface fluctuates greatly due to the influence of centrifugal force caused by flow direction variation, and also leads to a decline in energy savings. The effects of oil property or annulus liquid property on the interface fluctuates, and the energy savings are analyzed; reducing surface tension is an effective measure to provide an energy-saving effect. These results can provide a reference for the design of heavy-oil-transportation pipelines, the analysis of interface fluctuation, and the energy-saving evaluation of oil–water annular flow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rotating machinery has significant applications in the fields of micro and nano meters, such as nano-turbines, nano-motors, and biomolecular motors, etc. This paper takes rotating nano-annular plates as the research object to analyze their free vibration behaviors. Firstly, based on Kirchhoff plate theory, Mindlin plate theory, and Reddy plate theory, combined with nonlocal constitutive relations, the differential motion equations of rotating functionally graded nano-annular plates in a thermal environment are derived. Subsequently, the numerical method is used to discretize and solve the motion equations. The effects of nonlocal parameter, temperature change, inner and outer radius ratio, and rotational velocity on the vibration frequencies of the nano-annular plates are analyzed through numerical examples. Finally, the relationship between the fundamental frequencies and the thickness-to-radius ratio of the nano-annular plates of clamped inner and outer rings is discussed, and the differences in the calculation results among the three plate theories are compared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional drilling methods often face difficulty meeting the demand for efficient and accurate coring under complex geological conditions. Cordless coring is an advanced technology that uses hydraulic lifting to carry out coring, which can achieve automation and automated and intelligent drilling operations. In this research, a new type of hydraulic lifting cordless coring drilling tool is designed. Moreover, a numerical simulation model of the fluid flow in the annulus between the spearhead and spool of the cordless coring drilling tool was established. Orthogonal simulation tests are carried out, and according to the orthogonal test data, a numerical prediction model of the spool annulus fluid field based on the Backpropagation Neural Network (BP neural network) is established. The prediction of the flow rate of the drilling fluid and the spool back-pressure ratio was obtained when the structural parameters of the spearhead and the spool annulus were different. A multi-objective optimization of the annulus flow structure of the cordless core drilling tool has been carried out. The optimization objectives include deciding the back pressure ratio of the spool overcoming the spring and the flow rate of the drilling fluid. According to the established nonlinear optimization model and based on the improved Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II) multi-objective optimization algorithm, it is verified that the convergence speed and diversity of the improved algorithm are better than those before the improvement. The simulation and experimental validation are carried out. It is verified that the flow rate of drilling fluid increased by 33.56% after optimization, and the force ratio was lowered by 5.825%. Finally, based on the simulation and optimization results, the φ96 cordless core drilling tool was manufactured on a trial basis, and on-site concrete drilling, coring, and hydraulic lifting operations were conducted for smooth coring and lifting. This study could provide an important scientific basis and technical support for the application and development of hydraulic lifting cordless coring technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the drilling of ultra-deep wells, gas kick often occurs, influenced by the complex void pressure profile. The accurate description of particle settling behavior in the gas–liquid mixture is of great significance to effectively deal with gas kicks and ensure drilling safety. In this study, the gas–liquid two-phase annulus flow with different gas volume fractions is created through the transparent annular pipe, constant pressure air pump, and gas flowmeter. High-speed photography is used to record and analyze the sedimentation of particles in gas–liquid mixtures. This study is based on 288 tests. The main parameters in this experiment include the particle Reynolds number, the gas fraction, and liquid viscosity. The effects of wall and gas fraction on the drag coefficient were analyzed. The correlation of particle terminal settling velocity was established. The results obtained show a correlation with average absolute errors (AAE) of 10.7%. This study reveals the settling characteristics of particles in the annular gas–liquid mixed flow, provides an accurate terminal settling velocity prediction explicit formula, and provides guidance for the calculation of bottom hole pressure under the condition of gas kick. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to introduce a novel approach to identifying flow regimes and void fractions in microchannel flow boiling, which is based on binary image segmentation using digital image processing and deep learning. The proposed image processing pipeline uses adaptive thresholding, blurring, gamma correction, contour detection, and histogram comparison to separate vapor from liquid areas, while the deep learning method uses a customized version of a convolutional neural network (CNN) called U-net to extract meaningful features from video frames. Both approaches enabled the automatic detection of flow boiling conditions, such as bubbly, slug, and annular flow, as well as automatic void fraction calculation. Especially CNN demonstrated its ability to deliver fast and dependable results, presenting an appealing substitute to manual feature extraction. The U-net-based CNN was able to segment flow boiling images with a Dice score of 99.1% and classify the above flow regimes with an overall classification accuracy of 91%. In addition, the neural network was able to predict resistance sensor readings from image data and assign them to a flow state with a mean squared error (MSE) < 10−6. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a new solution method for the leakage and static characteristics of smooth annular seal under a homogeneous gas-liquid two-phase flow based on a bulk-flow model. In this solution method, the Rayleigh–Plesset equation is introduced into the governing equations to describe the behavior of bubbles considering mixture compressibility. Detailed comparisons between Childs' experimental leakage rates and predicted ones based on the proposed method are conducted, and the predicted results show good agreement with the experimental results, with a maximum error of 11.2%. Moreover, static characteristics of the seal, including leakage rates, gas volume fraction (GVF) distribution, pressure distribution, mixture density, and viscosity within the seals, are investigated based on the present method. The results show that as the inlet gas volume fraction increases from 0% to 10%, the local gas volume fraction of each axial position will increase, however, the seal leakage, mixture density, and mixture viscosity will decrease. Bubble radius has little effect on the leakage rates and the static characteristics of the seals. Additionally, comparisons between the characteristics of the model seals with different clearances show that the leakages of the seals with bigger clearance behave more sensitively to the inlet GVF changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experimental data for frictional pressure drop using both air–water and air–oil mixtures are reported, compared and used to evaluate predictive methods. The data were gathered using the 2-inch (54.8 mm) flow loop of the multiphase flow facility at the National University of Singapore. Experiments were carried out over a wide range of flow conditions of superficial liquid and gas velocities that were varied from 0.05 to 1.5 m/s and 2 to 23 m/s, respectively. Pressure drops were measured using pressure transducers and a differential pressure (DP) cell. A hitherto unreported finding was achieved, as the pressure drop in air–oil flow can be lower than that in air–water flow for the higher range of flow conditions. Using flow visualization to explain this phenomenon, it was found that it is related to the higher liquid holdup that occurs in the case of air–oil around the annular flow transition and the resulting interfacial friction. This additional key finding can have applications in flow assurance to improve the efficiency of oil and gas transportation in pipelines. Models and correlations from the open literature were tested against the present data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the influence of U-bends on the flow and pressure propagation characteristics of a gas–liquid two-phase flow in upstream and downstream straight pipes was investigated experimentally. The superficial velocities of the gas and liquid are 0.18–25.11 m/s and 0.20–1.98 m/s, respectively, covering plug flow, slug flow, and annular flow. The experiments were conducted in U-tubes with inner diameters of 9 mm and 12 mm and with a curvature ratio of 8.33. The U-tube was C-shaped. The pressure fluctuations at the axial measurement points of the straight tubes were measured. Flow images of the distal straight tubes and U-bends were obtained. The disturbance from U-bends in the two-phase flow in the vicinity of the bend is very obvious. The perturbation from U-bends in the fluid in the adjacent straight tubes is highly related to the incoming flow pattern. The slug flow has the most significant influence, whereas the effects of the plug and annular flows are small. Fundamentally, it mainly depends on the weight relationship between the gravity, centrifugal force, and inertial force of the gas–liquid two-phase fluid. The pressure fluctuation propagates in the form of a wave with the same dominant frequency in the straight pipes of the U-tube. The pressure pulsation energy in the straight tubes strengthens with decreasing distance from the 180° return bend. In addition, the pressure fluctuation energy downstream of the U-bend is greater than that upstream of the return bend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose a deep-learning-based method using a convolutional neural network (CNN) to predict the volume flow rates of individual phases in the oil–gas–water three-phase intermittent flow simultaneously by analyzing the measurement data from multiple sensors, including a temperature sensor, a pressure sensor, a Venturi tube and a microwave sensor. To build datasets, a series of experiments for the oil–gas–water three-phase intermittent flow in a horizontal pipe, in which gas volume fraction and water-in-liquid ratio ranges are 23.77–94.45% and 14.95–86.97%, respectively, and gas flow superficial velocity and liquid flow superficial velocity ranges are 0.66–5.23 and 0.27–2.14 m/s, respectively, have been carried out on a test loop pipeline. The preliminary results indicate that the model can provide relative prediction errors on the testing-1 dataset for the volume flow rates of oil-phase, gas-phase and water-phase within ±10% with 94.49%, 92.56% and 95.71% confidence levels, respectively. Additionally, the prediction results on the testing-2 dataset also demonstrate the generalization ability of the model. The consuming time of a prediction with one sample is 0.43 s on an Intel Xeon CPU E5-2678 v3, and 0.01 s on an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti GPU. Hence, the proposed CNN-based prediction model, which can fulfill the real-time application requirements in the petroleum industry, reveals the potential of using deep learning to obtain accurate results in the multiphase flow measurement field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the boiling synchronization of two-phase flow patterns in two parallel minichannels of 1 mm in diameter with connected compressible volumes was analyzed. The analysis was performed using images recorded with a high-speed camera. The degree of synchronization between channels was evaluated by assessing the presence of liquid flow in the small part of the minichannels. It can be concluded that boiling is synchronized when small bubble flow or wavy annular flow occur in neighboring channels. The occurrence of slug flow in one channel causes the boiling in neighboring channels to become unsynchronized. The result of the image analysis shows that the correlation coefficient based on the evaluation of the presence of liquid flow in the small part of the minichannels over a long enough time period allows for the detection of boiling synchronization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complex wave structure of annular gas–liquid flow with disturbance waves and liquid entrainment is a result of the evolution of high-frequency initial waves, appearing at the very inlet of the flow, prior to the hydrodynamic stabilization of liquid film. This stage of flow evolution is studied experimentally, using a shadow technique, and theoretically, using a linear stability analysis of the Orr–Sommerfeld equation in both phases. The present work is focused on the comparison of earlier results obtained in air–water downward flow with the new results obtained in upward flow and with more viscous liquids. The flow orientation affects the shape of the liquid film prior to stabilization; the initial film area is thicker but shorter in upward flow. Upward flow orientation also leads to a lower frequency and the increment of growth of initial waves. The viscosity effect is found to be weak if flow rates of both phases are the same. The model is mostly able to reproduce the qualitative trends, but the quantitative agreement is not reached. Experimental observations indicate that the liquid flow within the initial area is significantly different from the stabilized flow of gas-sheared liquid film, which is used in the model. This difference could explain the discrepancy; further development of the model should be aimed at taking into account the evolution of the velocity profile inside the liquid film during the stage of hydrodynamic stabilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A possible method for fluid transportation of heavy oil through horizontal pipes is core annular flow (CAF), which is water-lubricated. In this study, a large eddy simulation (LES) and a sub-grid-scale (SGS) model are used to examine CAF. The behavior of heavy oil flow through turbulent CAF in horizontal pipes is numerically investigated. The Smagorinsky model is utilized to capture small-scale unstable turbulent flows. The transient flow of oil and water is first separated under the behavior of the core fluid. Two different conditions of the horizontal pipes, one with sudden expansion and the other with sudden contraction, are considered in the geometry to investigate the effects of different velocities of oil and water on the velocity distribution, pressure drop, and volume fraction. The model was created to predict the losses that occur due to fouling and wall friction. According to the model, increasing water flow can reduce fouling. Additionally, the water phase had an impact on the CAF's behavior and pressure drop. Also, the increased stability in the CAF reduces the pressure drop to a level that is comparable to water flow. This study demonstrated that a very viscous fluid may be conveyed efficiently utilizing the CAF method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the drilling of horizontal wells, the drill cuttings tend to settle down on the low side of the annulus due to gravity and form a stationary bed, which results in hole cleaning problems. In this paper, a novel type of drillpipe with an elliptical shape was proposed to alleviate inadequate hole cleaning during the drilling of horizontal wells. A three-dimensional computational fluid dynamic (CFD) Eulerian-Eulerian approach with the Realizable k-ɛ turbulence model was developed to predict the solid–liquid two-phase flow in the annular space. Numerical examples were given to investigate the influence of different parameters on cuttings' transport behavior, and the elliptical drillpipe was compared with the circular drillpipe. The annular cuttings concentration, annular pressure drop, and hole cleaning efficiency were evaluated. The numerical results clarify the potential of the elliptical drillpipe to enhance the hole cleaning efficiency without significantly increasing the annular pressure drop. Due to the swirl flow and secondary flow caused by the rotation of the curvature wall, the swaying phenomenon of drill cuttings' distribution along the rotation direction of drillpipe was observed and enhanced the cuttings transport ability. Using the elliptical drillpipe as a joint-type tool can improve hole cleaning performance. Under the optimum conditions applied in this study, the hole cleaning efficiency increased by nearly 18%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deposition of scale layers inside pipelines leads to many problems, e.g., reducing the internal diameter of pipelines, damage to drilling equipment because of corrosion, increasing energy consumption because of decreased efficiency of equipment, and shortened life, etc., in the petroleum industry. Gamma attenuation could be implemented as a non-invasive approach suitable for determining the mineral scale layer. In this paper, an intelligent system for metering the scale layer thickness independently of each phase's volume fraction in an annular three-phase flow is presented. The approach is based on the use of a combination of an RBF neural network and a dual-energy radiation detection system. Photo peaks of 241Am and 133Ba registered in the two transmitted detectors, and scale-layer thickness of the pipe were considered as the network's input and output, respectively. The architecture of the presented network was optimized using a trial-and-error method. The regression diagrams for the testing set were plotted, which demonstrate the precision of the system as well as correction. The MAE and RMSE of the presented system were 0.07 and 0.09, respectively. This novel metering system in three-phase flows could be a promising and practical tool in the oil, chemical, and petrochemical industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gas–liquid two-phase flow patterns of subsea jumpers are identified in this work using a multi-sensor information fusion technique, simultaneously collecting vibration signals and electrical capacitance tomography of stratified flow, slug flow, annular flow, and bubbly flow. The samples are then processed to obtain the data set. Additionally, the samples are trained and learned using the convolutional neural network (CNN) and feature fusion model, which are built based on experimental data. Finally, the four kinds of flow pattern samples are identified. The overall identification accuracy of the model is 95.3% for four patterns of gas–liquid two-phase flow in the jumper. Through the research of flow profile identification, the disadvantages of single sensor testing angle and incomplete information are dramatically improved, which has a great significance on the subsea jumper's operation safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The surface wettability is important in the change in the relative permeability of gas and water. Due to the heterogeneous property of coal, it has a mixed wetting state, which makes it difficult to predict the change in permeability. To investigate the influence of different wettabilities on two-phase flow, a total of three different rank coal samples were collected and were treated with different chemicals. The alteration of the coal's wettability, characteristics of gas–water flow, and relative permeability of the coal after the chemical treatments were analyzed. The research conclusions suggest that (1) the coal samples treated with SiO2 and H2O2 increased the hydrophilicity of the coal surface, while the coal samples treated with DTAB increased the hydrophobicity of the coal surface. Compared to SiO2, both H2O2 and DTAB can form a uniform wetting surface. (2) The wettability alteration mechanism among the three different chemical reagents is different. (3) All the chemicals can change the gas–water interface. The water migrates more easily through the cleats after H2O2 treatment, while it is more difficult for the water to migrate through cleats after the DTAB treatment. (4) There are two types of flow states of gas and water on different wetting surfaces. A slug flow is formed on a hydrophilic surface, while an annular flow is formed on a hydrophobic surface. (5) The crossover point and the residual water saturation of the relative permeability curves were influenced by the surface wettability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dual-layer pipe dual-gradient drilling technology is an emerging technology for solving the problem of the narrow safety density window in deepwater drilling. The unstable spacer fluid interface in this technology directly affects the dual-gradient pressure system in the annulus, causing changes in the drilling mud performance and affecting the control of bottom hole pressure and rock removal with drilling mud. Therefore, the key to the stable operation of dual-layer pipe dual-gradient drilling technology is to maintain the stability of the spacer fluid interface. Based on this, a seawater-spacer fluid-drilling mud annular flow model was established in this study, with a bottom hole pressure control step of 0.2 MPa, and the spacer fluid height after a single control was used as the evaluation index to study the influence of annular flow velocity, the spacer fluid properties, and the drill string rotation speed on the stability of the spacer fluid interface. The results show that in the determined conditions of the seawater and drilling mud system, the annular fluid flow rate and the physical parameters of the spacer fluid are the main factors affecting the stability of the spacer fluid interface. When the annular fluid flow rate increased within the range of 0.04~0.2 m/s, the liquidity index of the spacer fluid increased between 0.5 and 0.9, the consistency coefficient increased in the range of 0.6 to 1.4 P a ⋅ s n , and the stability of the spacer fluid interface decreased. However, the stability of the spacer fluid interface increased with the increase in its density in the range of 1100~1500 kg/m3. The results obtained in this study can provide a reference for selecting the operating parameters to ensure the stable operation of dual-gradient pressure systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The surface morphology of X80 steel with hydrophilic underwater oleophobic characteristic is described greater comprehensively and quantitatively in this work by combining fractal dimension and multifractal. X80 steel with hydrophilic underwater oleophobic surface characteristics was constructed using a chemical etching method. Then, with the aid of three wettability parameters—contact angle, rolling angle, and adhesion work—this study investigated the relationship between the surface fractal dimension of X80 and the stability of the water ring in the core annular flow. The results showed that: (1) the fractal dimension of X80 steel specimens increased first and then decreased with the increase of reaction time. Besides that, the value of it was greater than 2, indicating that the surface had obvious fractal characteristics. The spectral difference, Δf(α), and the spectral width, Δα, supplemented the description of the X80 steel surface morphology, which was consistent with the scanning electron microscope results. (2) When the maximum fractal dimension was 2.0808, the minimum contact angle of distilled water on its surface was 50.2°, and the maximum contact angle of underwater oil droplets was 166.4°. The larger the fractal dimension of X80 steel with hydrophilic underwater oleophobic properties, the more hydrophilic and underwater oleophobic it is. This illustrated that there was a strong binding force between the water and the X80 steel pipe wall, and hence the quality and efficiency of the core annular flow was improved, which was more conducive to the promotion of this technology in the field of heavy oil transportation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a multielement annular ring ultrasound transducer formed by individual high-frequency PMUTs (17.5 MHz in air and 8.7 MHz in liquid) intended for high-precision axial focalization and high-performance ultrasound imaging. The prototype has five independent multielement rings fabricated by a monolithic process over CMOS, allowing for a very compact and robust design. Crosstalk between rings is under 56 dB, which guarantees an efficient beam focusing on a range between 1.4 mm and 67 µm. The presented PMUT-on-CMOS annular array with an overall diameter down to 669 µm achieves an output pressure in liquid of 4.84 kPa/V/mm2 at 1.5 mm away from the array when the five channels are excited together, which is the largest reported for PMUTs. Pulse-echo experiments towards high-resolution imaging are demonstrated using the central ring as a receiver. With an equivalent diameter of 149 µm, this central ring provides high receiving sensitivity, 441.6 nV/Pa, higher than that of commercial hydrophones with equivalent size. A 1D ultrasound image using two channels is demonstrated, with maximum received signals of 7 mVpp when a nonintegrated amplifier is used, demonstrating the ultrasound imaging capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the feasibility of using an X-ray tube instead of radioisotope sources for measuring volume fractions of gas, oil, and water in two typical flow regimes of three-phase flows, namely, annular and stratified, is evaluated. This study's proposed detection system is composed of an X-ray tube, a 1 inch × 1 inch NaI detector, and one Pyrex-glass pipe to model different volume fractions for two flow regimes, annular and stratified. Group method of data handling (GMDH), a powerful regression tool, was also implemented to analyze the obtained data. The obtained results in this work indicate that a simple system based on an X-ray tube and just one NaI detector could be a potential alternative to radioisotope-based systems for separate measurements of gas, oil, and water volume fractions in annular and stratified flow regimes of a three-phase flow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a series of experiments focused on the displacement of viscoplastic fluids by various Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids from a long horizontal, eccentric annulus. The flow regimes range from high Reynolds number laminar regimes through to fully turbulent. These experiments represent the primary cementing operation in a horizontal well. The main objective of our experiments is to gain insight into the role of the flow regime in the fluid-fluid displacement flows of relevance to primary cementing. We study strongly eccentric annuli and displaced fluids with a significant yield stress, i.e., those scenarios where a mud channel is most likely to persist. For fully eccentric annuli, the displacements are uniformly poor, regardless of regime. This improves for an eccentricity of 0.7. However, at these large eccentricities that are typical of horizontal well cementing, the displacement is generally poor and involves a rapid "breakthrough" advance along the wide upper side of the annulus followed only by a much slower removal of the residual fluids. This dynamic renders contact time estimates meaningless. We conclude that some of the simple statements/preferences widely employed in industry do not necessarily apply for all design scenarios. Instead, a detailed study of the fluids involved and the specification of the operational constraints is needed to yield improved displacement quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the results of a study concerned with the hydrodynamics of an annular downward multiphase flow of gas and two mutually non-mixing liquids through a vertical pipe with a diameter of 12.5 mm. The air, oil and water were used as working media in this study with changes in superficial velocities in the ranges of jg = 0.34–52.5 m/s for air, jo = 0.000165–0.75 m/s for oil, and jw = 0.02–2.5 m/s for water, respectively. The oil density and viscosity were varied within the ranges of ρo = 859–881 kg/m3 and ηo = 29–2190 mPas, respectively. The research involved the identification of multiphase flow patterns and determination of the void fraction of the individual phases. New flow patterns have been identified and described for the gravitational flow conditions of a two-phase water–oil liquid and a three-phase air–water–oil flow. New flow regime maps and equations for the calculation of air, oil and water void fractions have been developed. A good conformity between the calculated and measured values of void fraction were obtained. The map for the oil–water–air three-phase flow is valid for the following conditions: j3P = 0.35–53.4 m/s (velocity of three-phase mixture) and oil in liquid concentration βo* = 0.48–94% (oil in liquid concentration). In the case of a downward annular oil–water two-phase flow, this map is valid for liquid mixture velocity jl = 0.052–2.14 m/s and βo* = 0.48–94%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]