The performance of multiphase fluid flow through an orifice

In the petroleum industry, liquid and gas multiphase fluids are present in almost all operations, from drilling fluids to well deliverability and facilities flow. In order to design properly a petroleum flowing system, good information about the systems and physical properties must be available.;The presence of multiphase fluid flow through restrictions can be found in drilling bit nozzles and wellhead chokes, as well as in downhole equipment. In this work, the phenomenon of two phase flow through an orifice is investigated experimentally using water and air as liquid and gas phase, respectively. Three different orifice geometries, several liquid flow rates and gas-liquid ratio are considered in the experiments conducted at the hydraulic tests facility at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. Furthermore, the effect of viscosity on the flow through restrictions was also investigated by flowing liquids solutions of natural cellulosic polymers and air.;A model based on fundamental laws of transport phenomena was developed for the prediction of the pressure drop across the orifice as a function of the flow rates and fluid's properties. An average error of 6.7 % and standard deviation less than 3.5 % was obtained. A sensitivity analysis of the model applied in the petroleum engineering context was conducted.