Open Access

ARTICLE

An Experimental Analysis of Gas-Liquid Flow Breakdown in a T-Junction

Lihui Ma^1,*, Zhuo Han¹, Wei Li¹, Guangfeng Qi¹, Ran Cheng², Yuanyuan Wang¹, Xiangran Mi³, Xiaohan Zhang¹, Yunfei Li¹

1 Technical Inspection Center, Sinopec Shengli Oilfield Company, Dongying, 257000, China
2 New Energy Development Center, Sinopec Shengli Oilfield Company, Dongying, 257000, China
3 China National Oil and Gas Exploration and Development Company, Ltd., Beijing, 100034, China

* Corresponding Author: Lihui Ma. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Multiphase Flow and Vortex Dynamics in Fluid Machinery)

Fluid Dynamics & Materials Processing 2024, 20(6), 1381-1392. https://doi.org/10.32604/fdmp.2024.046405

Received 02 December 2023; Accepted 16 January 2024; Issue published 27 June 2024

Abstract

When a gas-liquid two-phase flow (GLTPF) enters a parallel separator through a T-junction, it generally splits unevenly. This phenomenon can seriously affect the operation efficiency and safety of the equipment located downstream. In order to investigate these aspects and, more specifically, the so-called bias phenomenon (all gas and liquid flowing to one pipe, while the other pipe is a liquid column that fluctuates up and down), laboratory experiments were carried out by using a T-junction connected to two parallel vertical pipes. Moreover, a GLTPF prediction model based on the principle of minimum potential energy was introduced. The research results indicate that this model can accurately predict the GLTPF state in parallel risers. The boundary of the slug flow and the churn flow in the opposite pipe can be predicted. Overall, according to the results, the pressure drop curves of the two-phase flow in the parallel risers are basically the same when there is no bias phenomenon, but the pressure drop in the parallel riser displays a large deviation when there is a slug flow-churn flow. Only when the parallel riser is in a state of asymmetric flow and one of the risers produces churn flow, the two-phase flow is prone to produce the bias phenomenon.

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Keywords

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