Measurement of Oil-Water Flows by Conductance Cross?Correlation Flowmeter with Center Body in a Small Pipe

Abstract

Accurate measurement of oil-water flows is a significant issue to oilfield water injection development. In this paper, the parameter measurement of vertical oil-water flows is established by conductance sensors with innerouter multi-height ring electrodes. Firstly, the dynamic experiment of vertical upward oil-water flows is carried out, and a high-speed camera is used to capture flow structures in each working condition. Based on the output conductance signals and the images from the high-speed camera, the experimental flow patterns (bubble flow, slug flow, very fine bubble flow and transition flow) are identified. And the relationship of mixture velocity to cross-correlation velocity and water cut is established. On this basis, the drift velocity models under different flow patterns are constructed by combining the water holdup calculated by Maxwell equation. The results show that the measurement of mixture velocity of oil-water flows is satisfactory. And high precision superficial velocity measurements of four different flow patterns are achieved.