~ Pergamon

Int. J. Multiphase Flow Vol. 21, No. I, pp. 53-60, 1995

Copyr i ght ~(? 1995 Elsevier Science Lt d
0301-9322(94)00058-1 Pri nt ed in Gr eat Britain. All ri ght s reserved
0301-9322/ 95 $9.50 + 0.00
S T R A T I F I E D T HRE E P HAS E F LOW I N PI PES
Y. TAI TEL j, D. BARNEA l and J. P. BRI LL 2
~Department of Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer Faculty of Engineering, Tel-Aviv University,
Ramat-Aviv 69978, Israel
-'Department of Petroleum Engineering University of Tulsa, 600 S. College Avenue, Tulsa,
OK 74104, U.S.A.
(Received 15 September 1993; in revised form 14 July 1994)
Abstract--The simultaneous flow of water, oil and gas is of practical importance for the oil and gas
industry. Many oil and gas pipelines contain these three phases with varying degrees of concentration,
depending on the particular situation.
In this work the gas/oil/water holdups for stratified three phase flow are calculated. This information
is usually the first step for analyzing the stability of stratified flow and for developing transition criteria.
It is shown that one can obtain three theoretical steady state configurations for stratified flow, but only
the configuration with the thinnest total liquid layer is stable and can actually occur.
Taitel & Dukler (AIChE J122, 47-55, 1976) criterion for transition from stratified flow was applied to
the three phase flow case and was found to yield good agreement for low gas flow rates.
Key Words: three phase flow, stratified flow, wate~oil-gas, flow pattern
I NT R ODUC T I ON
Thr ee phase fl ow o f t wo i mmi sci bl e liquids and gas is o f consi der abl e pr act i cal i mpor t a nc e f or t he
oil and gas i ndust r y. Ga s pipelines of t en cont ai n wat er and h y d r o c a r b o n condens at es and oil pipelines
can al so cont ai n bot h va por and wat er. Wa t e r pr oduc t i on of t en i ncreases si gni fi cant l y dur i ng t he
l at t er st ages o f a well and use o f t he convent i onal a ppr oxi ma t i ons o f a t wo phase oi l - gas syst em
negl ect i ng t he wat er, or combi ni ng t he oil and wat er i nt o a l i qui d phase, of t en becomes i naccur at e.
I n spi t e o f t he pr act i cal i mpor t a nc e , it is sur pr i si ng h o w little wo r k has been dedi cat ed t o a s t udy
o f t he t hr ee phas e fl ow case. Pr evi ous publ i cat i ons can be di vi ded i nt o t wo ma i n cat egor i es on t he
basi s o f pi pe i ncl i nat i on angl e. The hor i z ont a l a n d / o r sl i ght l y i ncl i ned case was st udi ed by:
A~i kg6gz et al. (1992), La he y et al. (1992), Nu l a n d et al. (1991), Lee et al. (1993) and St apel ber g
et al. (1990, 1991 a & b); wher eas t he vert i cal case was cons i der ed by Che n et al. (1990) and Pl es hko
& Sh a r ma (1990). The wo r k o f St apel ber g et al. c onc e nt r a t e d pr i mar i l y on sl ug flow, wher e t he
fl ow is suffi ci ent l y chaot i c t hat t he l i qui d phas e is essent i al l y a mi xt ur e o f t he t wo l i qui ds used, wat er
a nd oil in t hi s case.
Of pa r t i c ul a r r el evance t o t he pr es ent wo r k is t he wo r k by Aqi kg6gz et al. (1992) a nd Lee et al.
(1993). Bot h r epor t ed exper i ment al resul t s f or a wi de r ange o f fl ow r at es a nd descr i bed in det ai l
t he fl ow pa t t e r ns obs er ved f or t he case o f hor i z ont a l o i l - wa t e r - a i r flow. Aqi kg6gz et al. (1992)
obs er ved a ver y c ompl e x a r r a y o f fl ow pat t er ns and descr i bed 10 di fferent fl ow pat t er ns. I n t hei r
wor k, t he pi pe di a me t e r was onl y 19 mm and st r at i f i cat i on was s el dom achi eved. The Lee et al.
(1993) exper i ment s wer e car r i ed out on a t est sect i on o f 10 cm di a. The y obs er ved and classified
seven fl ow pat t er ns , whi ch ar e si mi l ar t o t he case o f t wo phas e fl ow namel y: (1) s mo o t h st rat i fi ed,
(2) wa vy st rat i fi ed, (3) r ol l i ng wave, (4) pl ug flow, (5) sl ug flow, (6) ps e udo sl ug and (7) a n n u l a r
flow. The first t hr ee pat t er ns can be classified as st rat i fi ed fl ow and t hey obs er ved t hat t he oil and
t he wat er ar e gener al l y segr egat ed, wi t h wat er f l owi ng as a l i qui d l ayer at t he b o t t o m o f t he pi pe
and oil f l owi ng on t op. Even f or pl ug flow, t he wat er r emai ns at t he b o t t o m, becaus e t he agi t at i on
o f t he l i qui ds was not suffi ci ent t o mi x t he oil a nd t he wat er . On t he ot he r hand, in sl ug flow, ps e udo
sl ug and a n n u l a r fl ow, oil a nd wat er wer e compl et el y di spersed.
I n t hi s wo r k we pr esent a t heor et i cal a p p r o a c h t o sol ve t he s t r uct ur e o f 3- l ayer st rat i fi ed flow.
The p u r p o s e o f t he s ol ut i on is t o cal cul at e t he levels o f t he b o t t o m l i qui d l ayer a nd t he s econd l ayer.
Thes e can be used t o cal cul at e t he hol dups o f t he t wo l i qui ds and t he gas. Onc e t hese val ues ar e
53
54 Y. TAITEL et al.
calculated, many ot her variables t hat pert ai n to the two liquids and gas velocities, pressure dr op
and stability consi derat i ons can follow. In part i cul ar, the possibility of obt ai ni ng multiple solutions
is discussed. Also consi dered is the t ransi t i on from stratified flow to slug or annul ar flow.
ANALYSI S
Referri ng t o figure 1, the flow of t hree fluids is considered: water, oil and gas. It is assumed t hat
the wat er is heavi er t han the oil and flows at the bot t om. The oil flows in the middle and the gas
at t he top. A moment um bal ance for each phase can be written as follows:
_Aw( \ dPdx -) - ~'wSw + r i S , - p w A w g sin fl = 0 [11
- A o ( ~xx ) - r o S o - r , & + z j S j - p o A o g s i n f i = O [2]
- - A G d~x - r G S G - r j S j - O G A c g s i n f l = O [3]
where A is a cross sectional area, p is density, P is pressure and fi is the inclination angle, positive
for upwar d inclination. The subscripts are W for water, O for oil, and G for gas. Five shear stresses
are needed to solve [1]-[3]: rw, the shear stress acting on the wall wetted by the wat er Sw; t o, the
shear stress acting on the wall wetted by the oil So; rG, the shear stress acting on the wall wetted
by t he gas SG; ri, the shear stress acting on the oil wat er interface &; and ~j, the shear stress acting
on the oi l -gas interface, Sj. These five shear stresses can be correl at ed as follows, where U is the
average velocity of the fluid in a layer:
- r p wU2 w
~ w - ~ w ~ [ 4 ]
r o = f o Po U ~ [ 5 ]
2
ZG =f ~ PG V ~ [6]
2
p o ( V o - Uw)l Uo - Uwl [7]
ri = f 2
= r P G ( U G - - Uo ) I U 6 - Uol
[8]
T/
J j
2
_ . . - - z - - " _
Fi gur e 1, The t hr ee l ayer geomet r y.
STRATIFIED THREE PHASE FLOW IN PIPES 55
For the shear stresses between the liquids or gas and the pipe surface, the friction factors, f w,
f o and f c can be appr oxi mat ed by the cor r el at i on
f = C R; " [9]
where C = 0.046, n = 0.2 f or t ur bul ent flow, and C -- 16, n = 1 for l ami nar flow. The Reynol ds
number s were defined as Rew = 4UwAwPw/ Swl ~w for the water, R~o = 4UoAoPo/ Sol ~o for the oil
and ReG----4UGAGpG/(Sc + Sj)~G for the gas. For the interfacial gas--oil shear stress we used a
const ant value o f ~ = 0.014, (Cohen & Hanr at t y 1968) but i f the value of f G was larger t han fj ,
t hen f j =f G was used. Likewise for the oi l - wat er interface, f = 0.014 was used o r f = f o when the
val ue of f 0 was larger t han 0.014.
Summi ng [1] and [2] yields:
( d P) TLSL'cjSj dx AL A L -- - - ~ +- z - - - - p L g s i n f l =O [10]
where,
and
Z' LS L = T wS W ~- " ~ o S o [11]
pwAw + poAo
PL = [12]
AL
AL = Aw+ Ao [13]
Not e t hat [10] is the combi ned moment um equat i on for the liquid phase which is composed of
t he wat er and the oil layers. Equat i ons [10] and [3], t herefore, have the same f or m as a t wo-l ayer
f or mul at i on f or liquid and gas.
The pressure dr op can be el i mi nat ed f r om [3] and [10] to yield:
Z L SL Z G SG / 1 1 )
- - - - - - ( P L - - PG)g sin fl = 0 [14]
AL
/
In the same way the pressure dr op is el i mi nat ed f r om [1] and [2] t o yield:
TwSwToSoT~jSj Aw Ao Ao ( 1 1 )
~- ziSi -~w + ~o - ( pw - Po )g sin fl = O [15]
Equat i ons [14] and [15] must be solved si mul t aneousl y t o yield the liquid level h E , and the wat er
level, hw. Not e t hat for the case of t wo layers, one has onl y a single equat i on with the exact f or m
as [14]. The case with t hree layers, however, is much mor e compl i cat ed. Al t hough [14] has the
identical f or mat as for the t wo-l ayer equat i on, it must be solved si mul t aneousl y with [15] because,
unlike the t wo l ayer case, ZL, SL, PL and AL , a r e given in terms of Zw, Vo, Sw, So, Aw and A o as
can be seen f r om [11] t o [13].
Met hod of solution
Equat i ons [14] and [15] are t wo si mul t aneous equat i ons for the t wo levels hw and h E. The
equat i ons are not linear and can have multiple solutions. A met hod of sol ut i on t hat works quite
well is as follows:
1. We st art with a guess of h E a t some low value.
2. Once h E is known, [15] is solved for hw by a one-di mensi onal search procedure. For each
choi ce of h E onl y one sol ut i on f or h w was found.
3. Equat i on [14] is t hen tested and i f not satisfied, a higher value of h L is used and step 2 is
repeated. Convergence is achieved using the hal vat i on met hod.
4. Once a sol ut i on for h E and hw is obt ai ned, a search for addi t i onal solutions for the same
flow rates is carri ed out by cont i nui ng this pr ocedur e with guessed values of h E larger t han
the obt ai ned solution.
56 Y. TAITEL et al.
The advant age of this met hod is t hat is covers safely the whol e possi bl e st eady st at e sol ut i ons
t hat exist and convergence is al ways assured.
RES ULTS AND DI S CUS S I ON
Some exampl es of the cal cul at i ons are shown in figures 2 7. Because of the large number of
par amet er s t here is no benefit to express the results in a di mensi onl ess f or m and the results given
are for t ypi cal exampl es of wat er - oi l - gas flow to demons t r at e the capabi l i t y of the met hod. In all
cases the pi pe di amet er is 5 cm, and the pr oper t i es of wat er and air are t aken at st andar d r oom
t emper at ur e and at mospher i c pressure, with the viscosity of wat er bei ng r ounded to 1 cP. Oil
densi t y is t aken at 800 kg/ m 3. We ran t wo cases for oil viscosities of 1 and 100 cP.
Fi gures 2- 4 show the results for the hor i zont al case where the liquid level (hL/D) and the wat er
level (hw/D) are pl ot t ed as a funct i on of the liquid flow rat e (ULs = Uws + Uos) for equal flow rates
of oi l and wat er. Fi gure 2 is the sol ut i on for the t wo l ayer case where onl y wat er and air are flowing.
I n figure 3, the oil vi scosi t y is identical to the wat er viscosity and the liquid level shown in figure
3 is al most identical to the liquid level shown in figure 2. Not e t hat even for the case where we
consi der the liquid to consi st of t wo l ayers with identical vi scosi t y and density, the results of the
sol ut i on f or the t wo l ayer anal ysi s and the t hree l ayer anal ysi s do not have to coincide. That is,
the sol ut i on for hL/D for a single wat er l ayer is not identical to the sol ut i on where the liquid layer
is subdi vi ded i nt o t wo equal vi scosi t y and densi t y layers. Yet the present results indicate t hat the
difference is pract i cal l y negligible (as we woul d expect). The bot t om wat er level is shown by a
br oken line. As can be seen, the wat er level is usually quite high and the liquid consists most l y of
wat er, especially for low flow rates. Thi s is logical since the oil, bei ng closer to the fast movi ng
gas, is dr agged by the gas to hi gher velocities t han the wat er l ayer at the bot t om. Because the oil
t ravel s fast er t han the wat er, the in situ hol dup of oil is l ower t han t hat of water.
When oil vi scosi t y is i ncreased to 100 cP, figure 4 shows t hat the t ot al liquid level increases,
especially for low liquid rates, and the relative level of the wat er decreases (al t hough not
dramat i cal l y). Thi s is also expect ed since the mor e viscous oil will move slower. As a result, its
rel at i ve hol dup will increase as well as the t ot al hol dup of the liquid (wat er + oil). The phenomenon
is enhanced for low liquid flow rat es because the effect of viscosity is l ower for high, t ur bul ent flow
rat es compar ed to low, l ami nar flow rates.
Not e t hat , as for the case of t wo l ayer syst ems, a single sol ut i on exists for the hor i zont al case,
for specific liquids and gas flow rates. Thus, for a given set of liquid propert i es, pi pe di amet er and
wat er, oil and gas flow rates, t here is a single sol ut i on for the t hi ckness of the wat er and the oil
layers.
Fi gures 5 to 7 show t hat mor e t han one sol ut i on is possi bl e for the upwar d inclined case. Fi gure
5 is t he sol ut i on for the t wo l ayer case for wat er - ai r . The possi bi l i t y of obt ai ni ng three sol ut i ons
for t he case of t wo l ayers gas- l i qui d flow has been observed and discussed by ot hers (Baker &
Gr aves t ock 1987; La ndma n 1991 a & b; Bar nea & Tai t el 1992). Fi gures 6 and 7 show t hat also
for the case of t hree phase flow, t hree sol ut i ons are possible for the low liquid flow rates. In this
regi on of low liquid flow rat es the relative oil l ayer is very thin.
].
hL/ D
0,5 O~ -
%
tx 0
O 0 . . . . . . . . . . . , , i , , , . . . . .
Ut.s ( m/ s)
Figure 2. Liquid levels for water-air flow in horizontal pipes.
STRATIFIED THREE PHASE FLOW IN PIPES 57
h / D
. L , ; . . . . . . . . . . . . ' . . . . . . . . ' . . . . . . . .
/
hw/ D . . . . . ~ / /
UWS / ULS=0. 5 O' ~
. / ,
, ~ "
0. 5 - OX. . . - - "
0
0 0 0 0 1 . 0 0 0 1 . 001 . 01 .1
ULS ( m/ s )
. . . . . . . I . ,
1 1 0
Fi gur e 3. Li qui d levels for wa t e r - oi l - a i r flow in hor i zont al
pipes. Oil vi scosi t y 1 cP. Wa t e r flow rat e rat i o 50%.
; f
h/O hw/O . . . . . / / / / /
. 0 0 0 0 1 . 0 0 0 1 . 0 0 1 . 01 .1 1 I 0
U k s ( m / s )
Fi gur e 4. Li qui d levels for wat er - oi l ai r flow in hor i zont al
pipes. Oil vi scosi t y 100 cP. Wa t e r flow rat e r at i o 50%.
One woul d expect t hat the oil l ayer will be t hi nner t han the wat er l ayer (for equal flow rates)
because the oil layer, in bet ween t he wat er and the gas l ayer will have a velocity which is bet ween
the wat er and t he fast movi ng gas. However , the ext remel y thin oil layer in the region of low ULS
is by no means intuitive. Anot her , non-i nt ui t i ve observat i on is t hat , unlike the hor i zont al case
where the increase of viscosity causes a significant increase in the liquid level, for the case of upwar d
flow (see figure 7) the viscosity has little effect on the liquid level. Onl y for gas velocity in the range
of 8-20 m/ s t here is a not i ceabl e change of liquid level due to an increase in the oil viscosity.
The multiple solutions
When mor e t han a single steady state sol ut i on exists, it is i mpor t ant to identify t he physically
realistic sol ut i ons and whet her it is possible to have mor e t han one sol ut i on in practice. Thi s
pr obl em for the case of t wo layers was t hor oughl y discussed by Barnea & Taitel (1992) who
anal yzed in detail the stability of the steady state solutions obt ai ned for the case of t wo layers. It
was concl uded t hat , when t hree steady state solutions exist, the onl y realistic sol ut i on is the sol ut i on
with the most thin liquid level. The ot her t wo "t hi ck" sol ut i ons were f ound to be unstable. Likewise
we assume here t hat also for the three layers the onl y valid physical sol ut i on is t he first (thin)
solution.
Flow pat t ern transition
Tr ansi t i on f r om stratified flow (to slug or annul ar flow) is believed to be the result of
Kel vi n- Hel mhol t z instability t hat causes waves on the gas-l i qui d i nt erface to be unst abl e and grow
up to the poi nt t hat they t ouch the t op par t of the pipe, resulting in t ransi t i on to slug or annul ar
flow (Taitel & Dukl er 1976; Lin & Hanr at t y 1986: Wu et al. 1987; Barnea 1987; Taitel 1990; Barnea
1991; Barnea & Taitel 1992). In this work we used the met hod pr oposed by Taitel & Dukl er (1976)
. . . . . . . . I . . . . . . . . I . . . . . . . . I . . . . . . . . I . . . . . . . . I . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . h L / D I I . . . . . . . . [ ' ' ...... ] ' . . . . . . I . . . . . . . .
hw/ D . . . . .
UWS / UL S=0 - 5 / / ~
u , . , < o , , > ,,o o o,.,,, ..........
h L / D ~ f / I / I
o ~ .o o o l . o o o l . o o l . o i .1 ; lo
. 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 , 001 . 01 .1 1 I 0
UL$ ( m/ s ) ULS ( m/ s )
Fi gur e 5. Li qui d levels for wat er ai r flow in pi pe i ncl i ned Fi gur e 6. Li qui d levels for wa t e r - oi l - a i r flow in pi pe i ncl i ned
upwar d I . upwar d 1 . Oil vi scosi t y 1 cP. Wa t e r flow rat e rat i o 50%.
58 Y T A I T E L et al.
........ I ........ I ........ I ........ r ........ I .......
h L / D - -
h w / D - _ / ' ~
/ / f /
h i D U G S = 4 m l s J / / . / / " / .
0.5 ...... ..6 "" .... ,.
8 " . . : : : ' - - ~ ~ ..-'".
8 . . . . . . . - : : " : - : : # : : " : "
. 0 0 0 0 1 . 0 0 0 1 . 0 0 1 . 0 1 . 1 1 1 0
U LS ( m l s l
Figure 7. Liquid levels for water oil air flow in pipe inclined upward 1'. Oil viscosity 10O cP. Water flow
rate ratio 50%.
t o cal cul at e t he l ocat i on o f t he t r ans i t i on boundar i es . The ext ensi on o f t he mor e a dva nc e d me t hods
such as t hos e p r o p o s e d by Li n & Ha n r a t t y (1986), Wu (1987) and Bar nea (1991) t o t he t hr ee phas e
ge ome t r y is not t ri vi al . Bar nea (1991) s howe d t hat t he Tai t el & DuLl er (1976) me t h o d is, in fact,
quite accurate for viscosities up to 100 cP. Thus, in this work the Taitel & DuLler (1976) transition
f r o m st rat i fi ed fl ow is cons i der ed, na me l y t he l i qui d level is uns t abl e when
( h L ) ~ (p -p G )g A G c s ~ [16]
UG- Uo > 1 - ~ pGSj
and once [16] is satisfied, sl ug fl ow will exist f or hi gh l i qui d h o l d u p and a nnul a r fl ow f or l ow l i qui d
h o l d u p (hL/D = 0. 35, Bar nea et al. 1982).
Fi gur e 8 s hows resul t s f or t he hor i z ont a l case f or wat er fl ow r at e f r act i ons o f 1.0, 0.5, 0.1 and
0. The sol i d line r epr esent s t he case f or a wat er f r act i on o f 1.0 when t he l i qui d phas e is all wat er
(t he t wo l ayer model ) .
I n t r o d u c i n g an oil l ayer o f hi gher vi scosi t y r educes t he l ocal vel oci t i es and i ncreases t he l i qui d
level in t he pi pe. Si nce t he t r ans i t i on f r om st rat i fi ed fl ow is di r ect l y r el at ed t o t he l i qui d level in
t he pi pe ( f or a gi ven gas fl ow rat e), t hen when t he wat er fl ow r at e f r act i on decreases, t he l i qui d
level i ncr eases and t he t r ans i t i on f r om st rat i fi ed fl ow occur s at l ower l i qui d and gas fl ow rates.
A si mi l ar effect can be seen in fi gure 9 f or t he i ncl i ned case. As t he oil fl ow r at e f r act i on is
i ncr eased, t he r egi on o f st rat i fi ed fl ow decreases. Howe ve r , this s t at ement needs s ome el abor at i on.
Pr evi ousl y, t he obs e r va t i on was ma de t hat , unl i ke t he hor i zont al case wher e t he l i qui d level changes
c ons i de r a bl y when i ncr easi ng t he oil f r act i on, t hi s is not t he case f or t he i ncl i ned case wher e t he
l i qui d level usual l y is little affect ed by t he i ncr ease o f oil f r act i on. Howe ve r , as me nt i one d
10
SLUG FLOW
,
ULs (m/s)
Uws/ULs -=1 ( wat er O ~ / / , / ( ~
. . . . : L ' . - " - _ _ # ' ? , \
F L O W \ / - , \
.01 .1 1 10 100
Uc, s (m/s)
Figure 8. Flow patterns for water oil air flow in horizontal
pipes. Oil viscosity 100 cP.
10
1
ULS ( m/ s )
. I
Figure
X
SLUG FLOW / ~ : , ,
/ , #
l;,'/
/,/i
. o, .
0 . 1 ~ "
STRATI FI ED F L O W - - ' ~ , ~ - ~ t 't~
. 0 1 . 1 1 10 100
UGS ( m/ s )
9. Flow patterns for water-oil air flow in pipe
inclined upward 1 . Oil viscosity 100cP.
S T R A T I F I E D T H R E E P H A S E F L O W I N P I P E S 59
E
0.7
i , , , ] i i i , i , ,
: . : : . : . : l w a t e ~ - c o 2 ' ' ! ' / "
= 1 5 0 % w a t e t - 5 0 % o i l ~
- c o z / I I : -
I N T E R M I T T E N T
/ ...:.~
e o e e o o . . . - . . - . . , . e t . . . .
. . ' , . . - o "1"
T Q i t e l 8 D u k l e r
( 1 9 7 6 )
S T R A T I F I E D
. . . . I . . . . . . . . I
1.0 10
U B S ( m / s )
Figure 10. Flow pattern transition---comparison with experiment (Lee e t al . 1993). Oil viscosity 15 cP.
previously, t here are consi derabl e differences in h L between the t wo phase and the t hree phase cases
in the range of gas flow rat e ar ound 8-20 m/s (figures 5 and 7). This is exactly the range in which
t ransi t i on f r om stratified flow occurs. Therefore, increasing the oil flow rat e fract i on has a
substantial influence on this t ransi t i on boundar y.
Fi gure l0 shows some experi ment al results for the flow pat t erns t aken f r om Lee e t al. (1993) for
wat er-oi l -CO2 flow in l0 cm dia hori zont al pipe. The oil viscosity is 15 cP. The figure cont ai ns the
t ransi t i on boundari es for wat er-CO2, oil-CO2 and wat er-oi l -CO2 for which the flow rates of wat er
and oil are the same. They identified three basic flow patterns: stratified flow, i nt ermi t t ent flow and
annul ar flow. However, they subdivided the stratified flow region into t hree subregions: stratified
smoot h (SS), wavy stratified (WS) and rolling waves (RW). Likewise the i nt ermi t t ent region was
subdivided i nt o plug flow (P), slug flow (S) and pseudo slug (PS) flow. For the sake of clarity figure
10 cont ai ns onl y the maj or flow pat t erns, t hat is, stratified flow, i nt ermi t t ent flow and annul ar flow.
The figure shows t hat for low gas flow rates the transition to i nt ermi t t ent flow "moves " downwar d
as oil fract i on is increased. For the case of wat er-oi l -CO2 at high gas flow rat e the region of stratified
flow (the subregi on of rolling waves) is consi derabl y expanded compar ed to this region for the t wo
phase case wat er-CO2 or oil-CO2. Fi gure 10 shows t hat it is not easy to find a logical consi st ent t rend
as one changes from pure wat er to pure oil and the appar ent increase of the roll wave region for the
wat er - oi l - CO2 system remains unexplained.
The model of Taitel & Dukl er (1976) shows relatively good agreement for the st rat i fi ed-
i nt ermi t t ent transition for low gas flow rates. For high flow rates the agreement with experi ment s is
not very good. Obvi ousl y the Taitel & Dukl er model is unabl e to explain the unexpect ed
consi derabl e increase of the region of roll waves for the three phase case (this phenomenon occurs
also at 75% wat er - 25% oil and 25% wat er - 75% oil as report ed by Lee e t al . ) . However, mor e wor k
and addi t i onal dat a are needed to clarify accurat el y this special phenomenon of the enl argement of
the roll wave region due to the presence of bot h oil and wat er within the liquid phase.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUS I ONS
Thr ee phase (two liquids and gas) stratified flow in a pipe is considered. The levels of the two
liquids in the pipe for any given set of flow rates is calculated. The results are present ed on h / D (hL
and hw) vs ULS(= Uws + Uos) maps for paramet ri c values of UGs. Exampl es are given for the case
of wat er - oi l - ai r flowing in hori zont al and upwardl y inclined pipes of 5 cm dia.
It is shown that, like the two phase case, three steady state solutions can be obt ai ned for the
upward inclined case. By anal ogy to the two phase flow case, it is assumed t hat the most thin l ayer
solution is the one t hat can physically occur.
I nf or mat i on regardi ng the liquid and oil levels is in fact an essential step f or the cal cul at i on of
hol dup, pressure dr op and the devel opment of flow pat t ern t ransi t i on criteria. The Taitel & Dukl er
(1976) criterion for the transition from stratified flow is f ound to agree with some experi ment al dat a
at relatively low gas flow rates.
60 v. TAI TEL et al.
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