STUDY OF FLOW REGIMES IN TWO-PHASE PIPELINE FLOW USING COMPUTER-BASED DIGITAL IMAGE PROCESSING (TURBULENT, CONCENTRATION, DROP-SIZE)

A new unobtrusive method for liquid-liquid two-phase flow data collection was proven reliable in this research. Drop size distributions and concentration profiles were determined for a dilute water-in-kerosene system under horizontal straight pipe flow using this technique. The drop size distributions were found to follow a Rosin-Rammler function for a limited droplet diameter range, and the average value of the exponent in the Rosin-Rammler equation was determined to be 2.0.; The velocity where the flow regime transitions from stratified to adequately dispersed was found to be between 6.6 and 7.3 ft/s. Concentration profiles predicted by the Segev model were in general agreement with the profiles determined in this work. Using the experimentally determined Rosin-Rammler exponent value of 2.0 and using the proper choice of the dimensionless lateral diffusivity, the Segev model predicts very well the profiles found in this work.; The new experimental method developed in this work will be useful to future researchers in two-phase flow. The data generated in this research is useful both for theoretical modeling efforts and for application to industry sampling problems.