Fluid flow in an impacting symmetrical tee junction III: three‐phase air/water/oil flow

Abstract

Results are presented on three-phase air/oil/water horizontal flow in a 0.026 m i.d. symmetrical impacting tee junction. The flow regimes observed agreed with an existing three-phase flow map. The inversion from waterdominated (WD) to oil-dominated (OD) flow was at an oil-to-liquid volumetric ratio of f o = 0.285. The inversion was at a low f o value because of the relatively tranquil conditions studied. Retention of oil on the pipe wall at the air/water two-phase condition at f o = 0 resulted in a dramatic increase in the pressure drop above that expected for the two-phase flow. The pressure drop in the tee junction arms increased with liquid-flow rate. The actual tee junction pressure drop showed a similar pattern to that observed in the inlet arm. The pressure drop was relatively constant in the OD region but showed a dramatic increase in the WD and inversion regions at low f o values. Non-dimensionalising the junction pressure drop as l e /d gave a similar pattern but the scatter of data increased.The tee pressure loss data were modelled using the Lockhart-Martinelli G parameter and gave similar but different correlations for the WD and OD regions. 