Simultaneous Measuring Method for Both Volumetric Flow Rates of Air-Water Mixture Using a Turbine Flowmeter

Abstract

A turbine flowmeter is employed in this study in connection with offshore oil field development, in order to measure simultaneously both the volumetric flow rates of air-water two-phase mixture. Though a conventional turbine flowmeter is generally used to measure the single-phase volumetric flow rate by obtaining the rotational rotor speed, the method proposed additionally reads the pressure drop across the meter. After the pressure drop and rotor speed measured are correlated as functions of the volumetric flow ratio of the air to the whole fluid and the total volumetric flow rate, both the flow rates are iteratively evaluated with the functions on the premise that the liquid density is known. The evaluated flow rates are confirmed to have adequate accuracy, and thus the applicability of the method to oil fields.

Gas–liquid two phase flow measurement method based on combination instrument of turbine flowmeter and conductance sensor

“…Abdul-Razzak et al (1995b) had also used the combination of turbine flowmeter and Venturi flowmeter to measure the mass flowrate of refrigerant liquid-vapor two phase flow and pointed out this combination was superior to the combination of voidage meter with either turbine flowmeter or Venturi flowmeter. Minemura et al (1996) proved the feasibility of measuring the mass flowrate, volume flowrate and void fraction of gas-liquid two phase flow accurately using the turbine flowmeter through experiments, and they also indicated that the mass flowrate and volume flowrate could be expressed as the function of rotor speed and pressure drop across turbine flowmeter. Shim and Lee (1998) suggested a method to measure the flowrate of individual phase by setting turbine flowmeter and Gamma densimeter at upstream and downstream separately of the vertical upward pipe, they also showed that the output signals of turbine flowmeter only depended on the volume flowrate of gas and liquid.…”

Measurement of Gas-Liquid Flows in Vertical Pipes Using Turbine Flow Meter and Conductance Sensor

“…The torque model [11] assumes that the two phases (gas and liquid) move separately at the same angle as singlephase flow. The torque element in two-phase flows tp dM can be represented by the separated flow model…”

“…Meanwhile, in the face of the challenges posed by the high irregularity, randomness and structural instability of the two-phase flows to the TFM, some studies have explored the TFM two-phase flows meter factor models based on volume flow rate [8], mass flow rate [9], momentum conservation [10], and torque balance [11], respectively. In addition, Masuhara et al [12] proposed an angular momentum model based on the two-phase holdup distribution and turbine structure.…”

Simultaneous Measurement of Volumetric Flowrates of Gas–Liquid Bubbly Flow Using a Turbine Flowmeter

“…There is an urgent need for a method that can measure the flowrates of both the gas and liquid phases simultaneously in detail and in real-time, without separating the phases. Minemura et al [14] proposed a turbine flowmeter combined with a two-phase flow homogenizer. They demonstrated that, by reading the rotational speed of the rotor and the difference in the pressures upstream and downstream of the device, the gas and liquid volumetric flowrates can be measured with accuracies of 3.2% and 1.5% of the maximum rated flowrates, respectively.…”