A Microwave Sensing and Imaging Method for Multiphase Flow Metering of Crude Oil Pipes

Abstract

This article proposes a microwave sensing and imaging method for multiphase flow monitoring and metering in oil and gas pipes. The ultrawideband (UWB) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) technique is used to create a high-resolution image of the pipe cross section. The image is, then, used to estimate each phase volume by extracting the edge of each phase. Additionally, the generalized impulsization technique is presented and applied to reconstruct a sharp-image, and decrease the error in flow rate estimation. Furthermore, a novel technique to enhance the detectability of weak targets in the images is proposed. Finally, a novel sectional image reconstruction technique is also applied to improve the imaging and metering of the stratified flows. All the proposed techniques are evaluated through experiments. This study demonstrates the ability to accurately estimate the crude oil flow rate with a maximum error of 3.8%. These results show that UWB SAR is capable of providing a reliable and noninvasive solution for multiphase flow metering. Index Terms-Oil pipe monitoring, synthetic aperture radar (SAR), ultrawideband (UWB) technology. I. INTRODUCTION R EAL-TIME, accurate, and nondestructive flow monitoring and measuring of multiphase flows are widely needed in many industries, such as food, aerospace, geothermal, and oil and gas industries [1]-[3]. For example, real-time multiphase flow metering (MFM) is recognized as one of the best methods for optimizing field operations in oil and gas fields. The cost of MFM in 2009 was estimated to be in the range of hundreds of thousands of dollars [4]. Hence, there is a large demand from the oil and gas industry for a reliable and inexpensive technique for MFM. The most popular available techniques for MFM can be categorized into seven classes based on their technology: conventional method or separation [5], impedance techniques [6]-[9], radio frequency (RF) sensor [10], resonant cavity sensors [11], [12], gamma-ray [13], x-ray [14], and Coriolis-microwave flow meter [15].

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“…A comprehensive review on applications of the MWT in the process industry is listed in [ 28 ]. Microwave sensing and imaging methods for application in multi-phase flow monitoring and metering in the oil and gas industry are given in [ 29 , 30 ]. In the food industry, MWT has been widely applied for inspection and quality control [ 31 , 32 , 33 ].…”