Numerical Simulation of the Transient Development of Slug Flow in Horizontal Pipes

Abstract

Slug flow regime in two and multi-phase flow in pipes is a complicated flow phenomena representing challenge in the design of the piping system. In the present work, water/air two phase flow was modeled and simulated as 3 dimensional, transient, and incompressible flow using Volume of Fluid technique in STAR-CCM+ software. The simulation was conducted to predict and evaluate the air-water slug flow in a horizontal pipe with 0.16 m diameter and 7 m long. The superficial velocities for both phases were extracted from Baker chart slug zone. The results were validated against experimental bench marking referenced in Baker chart and the proposed VOF technique shows a good capability in simulating the development of the slug flow regime. This model could be utilized for simulation of various two phase flow regimes.