Application of Wire-Mesh Sensor for making liquid-liquid biphasic flow data

Abstract

The frequent presence of biphasic flows in several natural and industrial processes has motivated a great academic interest in the last decades. The particular case of the liquid-liquid flow is generally found in the petroleum industry, and may present itself in different flow patterns. There is relatively little data available on liquid-liquid flows; in the petroleum industry, for example, the cited flow is often treated as single phase flow. However, this simplistic approach has serious implications in practice, such as the impossibility of an in-line oil flow measurement with acceptable uncertainty by regulatory agencies (ANP). For the study of the physical phenomena associated to biphasic flow, measurement instruments of varied complexity are required. Intrusive tomographic visualization techniques, such as the wire-mesh electrical impedance sensor, have recently been proposed for the detailed study of biphasic flows. Measurements of phase flows, flow pressure gradients at some slopes and in some diameters, as well as in-situ volumetric measurements with wire-mesh will be performed to survey the parameters related to the mixing model in biphasic flows. Mineral oil and water will be used as working fluids. The project proposes the use of experimental apparatuses and instrumentation in operational state at the Laboratory of Industrial Multiphase Flows (LEMI) of USP - São Carlos. LEMI counts on researchers with experience in the use of these experimental techniques.