CFD Simulation of Interfacial Instability from the Nozzle in the

Formation of Viscous Core-Annular Flow

Manuel J. Mac
ıas-Herna
ndez,* Omar D
avila-Maldonado, Ariel Guzm
an-Vargas, Rogelio Sotelo-Boy
as

and Liliana Zarazua-Villalobos
Instituto Politécnico Nacional-ESIQIE, UPALM-Edif. 7, Col. Zacatenco-Lindavista, C.P. 07738 Cd. México, México

The interfacial instability in the development of core-annular flow by the influence of the inlet nozzle in a horizontal pipe was investigated by
computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The two-phase flow has been simulated using Volume-Of-Fluid model (VOF) and k-e turbulence model for the
core (viscous oil) and the annular phase (water). The simulation results showed that by increasing the water input fraction, the interfacial instability
appeared when the eccentricity of the core with an upward position and an oscillating position were generated by the input pressure, turbulent
kinetic, and buoyancy force. In the development of the perfect core-annular flow an input concentric core changes to eccentric position with
negligible turbulence. The onset of entrainment is formed by a reverse flow at the junction of the two-phase at the nozzle exit. The interfacial
formation was analyzed using a proposed two-phase Froude number and modified Eo € tvos number involving the water input fraction.

Keywords: core-annular flow, nozzle discharge, oil-water, stabilization, CFD simulation

INTRODUCTION flow using the k-e model with laminar viscous oil,[33–38] and for
two-phase modelling.[39,40] In all the studies, the effects of inlet

D
uring the water-lubricated transport of viscous oil, both
liquids (oil and water) are introduced into the pipe section
by a nozzle, forming a core which is surrounded and
lubricated by a water annulus, giving a core-annular flow
structure. Several injection operations are required in the
lubrication process, for instance the stabilization of the flow
pattern, the cleaning of the pipe wall, the injection of chemical
agents to promote the flow stabilization, and in preventing
corrosion.[1–3]
Viscous oil-water flow patterns in horizontal pipes in experi-
mental work have been obtained using a special nozzle, and
different water and oil flow rates.[4–10] The inlet section has been
used as a reference in the stabilization distance of the flow pattern,
where the interfacial tension plays an important role with the
viscosity and the velocity difference between two-phases.
Although special nozzles designs are used to stabilize the core-
annular flow,[1,6–7,11–12] the oil-water interface presents different
phenomena starting from the nozzle such as the formation of
drops,[13] the onset of drop entrainment,[14–15] transition phenom-
ena in the flow pattern,[16,17] slip between the two phases,[18–21]
and the onset of fouling at the pipe wall,[22] where the interfacial
shape is rarely flat.[11,23]
The influence of the nozzle in the input condition (with a type of
nozzle entering two liquids) can be determined by the develop-
ment of the structure of the core-annular flow with low and
intermediate Eo €tvos numbers, Eo < 1,[24] and Eo
0 (1),[25]
respectively. Bannwart et al.[18] proposed criteria for stabilization
of the core flow using the modified Eo €tvos number involving the
water input fraction; such criteria has been discussed and
compared by Sotgia et al.[6] and Colombo et al.[26]. However,
the interfacial evolution mechanism from the nozzle is not fully
understood.
An extensive study of mathematical modelling has been used
with an empirical input interface structure assuming a shape of the
wave such as: sawtooth wave,[27–30] snake waves,[31] and smooth
interface[32] with a concentric solid core. Computational fluid
dynamics have been applied to calculate the turbulent annular
disturbance and interfacial deformation from the nozzle have not
been considered.
Therefore, the aim of this paper is to analyze the influence of the
nozzle in the formation of core-annular flow as PCAF, wave core-
annular flow, and oil stick to wall in a horizontal tube by CFD
simulation. First, the study was focused on the nozzle discharge
for the core flow and during the junction of fluids. Then, the
formation and evolution of interfacial structures from the nozzle
were analyzed and compared with flow patterns according to the
literature.
MODEL DEVELOPMENT
A three-dimensional model was developed to study the
formation of core annular flow from the nozzle. The flow
geometry is schematically shown in Figure 1. A nozzle
(Dnozzle ¼Lnozzle ¼ 0.02 m) and a horizontal pipe (Dpipe ¼ 0.025 m,
Lpipe ¼ 0.75 m) have been considered for the simulation. The
viscous oil (mo ¼ 2.7 Pa  s and density of 986 kg m3) was injected
into the tube through the nozzle while the water (mw ¼ 0.001 Pa  s
and density 996 kg m3) was introduced in the annular space. The
oil-water interfacial tension is sow ¼ 26  103 N m1.[9]
Governing Equation
There are three numerical models which are used to solve two-
phase flow problems:[41–42] the volume of fluid model (VOF), the
Mixture model, and the Eulerian model. The VOF model is selected
for this case of the hydrodynamics of core annular flow and it has
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
E-mail address: maciash@yahoo.com
Can. J. Chem. Eng. 94:2004–2012, 2016
© 2016 Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering
DOI 10.1002/cjce.22580
Published online 11 August 2016 in Wiley Online Library
(wileyonlinelibrary.com).

2004 THE CANADIAN JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING VOLUME 94, OCTOBER 2016


@ aq

þ UqD ¼ 0 ð4Þ
@t

The primary-phase volume fraction will be computed based on

the following constraint:

X
n
aq ¼ 1 ð5Þ
Figure 1. Nozzle and pipe model geometry. q¼1

According to flow patterns of the core annular flow (Table 1),

been widely used for two-phase modelling.[33–39] The following the regime was turbulent because the mixture Reynolds numbers
governing transport equations including VOF and turbulence (Rem) were between 4190 and 15133, thus, the standard k-e model
model equations need to be solved. is used for the two phases. This work included a structure of oil
Mass conservation equation: sticking to the wall where the core is very unstable with

 Rem ¼ 918. The standard k-e model has been used for gas-liquid
@ a q rq
 with a low Reynolds number.[44] Among the turbulent models
þ r a q rq U ¼ 0 ð1Þ
@t available in Fluent, the standard k-e model has been selected to
simulate the liquid-liquid flow.[39–42] This model estimates the
where r, U, t, are density, velocity, and time, respectively. turbulent kinetic energy (k) and the viscous dissipation rates (e)
A single momentum equation is solved throughout the domain, which are used to obtain the turbulent viscosity in the flow field.
and the resulting velocity field is shared among the phases. The The governing equations are as follows:
momentum equation (Equation (2)) is dependent on the volume

  
fractions of all phases through the properties r and m. @ a q ra k
 m

þ D aq rq kU ¼ D aq t Dk þ aq 2meff Eij  ra e ð6Þ
@t sk
@ ðrU Þ 

þ r½ðrUU Þ ¼ rP þ r m rU þ rU T þ ðr gÞ þ F ð2Þ
  
@t @ a q ra e
 m eq  
þ D aq reU ¼ D t De þ aq C1e 2meff Eij  C2e ra eq
@t sk kq
where P, g, F, m are pressure in the flow field, acceleration
due to gravity, body forces acting on the system, and viscosity, ð7Þ
respectively. meff ¼ mt þ mq ð8Þ
One limitation of the shared-fields approximation is that in
cases where large velocity differences exist between the phases,
the accuracy of the velocities computed near the interface can be where the dynamic viscosity is mq of one of the phases and
adversely affected.[43] turbulent or eddy viscosity (mt) is given as follows:
The VOF formulation relies on the fact that the two fluids are not
interpenetrating. For each additional phase, a new variable is k2q
mt ¼ Cm rq ð9Þ
introduced such as the volume fraction of the phase in the eq
computational cell. In each control volume, the sum of volume
fractions of all phases is unity. The fields for all variables and Eij is defined as follows:
properties (pressure, velocity, etc.) are shared by the phases and  
represent volume-averaged values, as long as the volume fraction @U i @U i @Xj
Eij ¼ þ ð10Þ
of each of the phases is known at each location. Thus, the variables @Xi @Xj @Xi
and properties in any given cell are purely representative of each of
the phases, or representative of a mixture of the phases, depending
The constants are taken as Cm ¼ 0.09, C1ɛ ¼ 1.44, C2ɛ ¼ 1.92,
upon the volume fraction values.
sk ¼ 1.0, and sɛ ¼ 1.3.
awater þ aoil ¼ 1 ð3Þ Surface tension
The VOF model includes the surface tension along the interface
In other words, if the volume fraction of qth fluid in the cell is between the phases. In the present case, the contact angle between
denoted as aq, then the following three conditions are possible: the secondary phase and the wall is specified and the surface
tension coefficient is specified as a constant.
aq ¼ 0: the cell does not contain the fluid q: The surface tension model uses the continuum surface force
(CSF) model proposed by Brackbill et al.[45] With this model, the
aq ¼ 1: the cell is occupied only by the fluid q: addition of surface tension to the VOF calculation results in a
source term in the momentum equation. The pressure difference is
0 < aq < 1: the cell contains the interface between fluid q calculated from the surface tension coefficient s and the surface
and one or more other fluids curvature as measured by two radii in orthogonal directions, R1
and R2, using the Young-Laplace equation:
So, the tracking of the interface between the phases is  
1 1
accomplished by the continuity equation for the volume fraction P2  P1 ¼ s þ ð11Þ
for each phase, Equation (4): R1 R2

VOLUME 94, OCTOBER 2016 THE CANADIAN JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING 2005
 Table 1. Initial conditions of flow pattern and dimensionless parameters

Number Flows regime Qw/Qo Uo (m/s) Uw (m/s) Rem Cw EoM Fr

(1) OSTW 0.1 0.19 0.019 918 0.09 0.39 0.45

(2) WCAF1 0.1 1.29 0.129 4190 0.09 0.39 3.06
(3) OSTW-to-WCAF 0.3 0.28 0.084 4194 0.23 0.33 0.88
(4) WCAF2 0.35 0.91 0.319 10 176 0.26 0.32 2.90
(5) PCAF 0.5 0.23 0.112 6529 0.33 0.29 0.84
(6) PCAF-to-WCAF 0.5 0.26 0.129 6836 0.33 0.29 0.96
(7) WCAF-to PCAF 0.5 0.31 0.155 7349 0.33 0.29 1.14
(8) WCAF3 0.5 0.36 0.180 7861 0.33 0.29 1.34
(9) WCAF4 0.5 1.07 0.535 15 134 0.33 0.29 3.96
Oil sticks to wall (OSTW), Wave core annular flow (WCAF), Perfect core annular flow (PCAF)

where P1 and P2 are the pressures in the two fluids on either side of
the interface.
Formulation of the CSF model is used in Fluent, in which the
surface curvature was computed from local gradients in the
surface normal at the interface (Fluent 6.3.26 user guide[43]).
Being n the surface normal defined as the gradient of aq for the
volume fraction of the qth phase as follows:
Inlet boundary conditions
The oil superficial velocity is specified at the nozzle inlet. The
water superficial velocity is specified in the annular space between
the nozzle surface and the pipe wall. The velocity conditions are:
At x ¼ 0; y ¼ 0; Ux ¼ Uoil and Uy ¼ 0

n ¼ raq ð12Þ At x ¼ 0:02 m and 0:01 < y < 0:0125 m; Ux ¼ Uw and Uy ¼ 0

The curvature k is defined in terms of the divergence of the

^:
united normal, n Wall boundary condition
Wall boundary conditions were used to bind the liquid and the
^
k ¼ rn ð13Þ solid region. No-slip was imposed to liquid velocity at the wall.

where: Ux ¼ 0 and Uy ¼ 0; Uz ¼ 0

n
^¼
n ð14Þ
jnj Outlet boundary conditions
At the pipe outlet, the pressure-outlet boundary was selected and
The surface tension can be written in terms of the pressure jump the diffusion fluxes for the variables in the exit direction were set at
across the surface. The force at the surface can be expressed as a zero.
volume force using the divergence theorem where the volume
force is the source term added to the momentum equation and has Numerical Simulation
the following form:
System geometry and boundary condition
X ai ri kj raj þ aj rj ki rai The mesh of the nozzle and pipe geometry was generated by
F¼ s ij
 ð15Þ GAMBIT version 2.31, which is compatible with Fluent. In the
2 ri þ rj
1
ij
study of ensuring the mesh size in the results. Jiang et al.[39]
evaluated the mesh independence test between 69 056 and
For a two-phase system: 390 730 cells for the viscous core-annular flow; their results did
not change significantly. Thus, the mesh for the simulation was
k1 ¼ k2 and ra1 ¼ ra2 selected as 182 930 hexahedral cells and 202 467 nodes with 4 cells
near the wall with a distance of the cell adjacent to wall at
0.0005 m (Figure 2). The flow structure results are validated in
This modifies Equation (15), giving:
Figures 3–4. The performance of the wall function with the
rk1 ra1 dimensional wall distance (yþ ¼ 33) of the first node in the k-e
F ¼ s ow 1 ð16Þ turbulence model at the pipe wall was obtained. yþ is defined as
2 ð r1 þ r2 Þ the dimensional wall distance obtained by the ratio of stress

where r is the volume-averaged density computed using

Equation (16). The foregoing equation shows that the surface
tension source term for a cell is proportional to the average density
in the cell.[43]

Initial and boundary condition

For all the simulations, the flow was initiated from the oil inlet and
the pipe was initially filled with oil. Figure 2. Schematic of meshed geometry.

2006 THE CANADIAN JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING VOLUME 94, OCTOBER 2016
velocity and cinematic viscosity (y þ ¼ yUt/v), values between 30
and 300 are appropriate. yþ being close to the lower bound
(y
30) is desirable for wall function.[41]
Solution strategy and convergence criterion
Due to the dynamic behaviour of the two-phase flow, a variation of
the flow phenomena both in time and space has been considered.
A transient simulation with a time step of 0.001 s was performed.
The time step was selected after a rigorous study based on the
Courant-Friedrichs-Lewy stability criterion.[46] For the present
case the value of Courant number was 0.25 at the beginning of the
simulation.
Different methods of discretization of the governing equation
were used. The continuity equation was discretized by PRESTO
while momentum, turbulent kinetic energy, and dissipation rate
equations were discretized by first order upwind method. The
PISO algorithm was used for pressure-velocity coupling.
Prior to the transient simulation a steady-state simulation was
carried out to determine the flow field with the pipe filled with oil
phase. For starting the two-phase simulation, a fully converged
flow field of oil phase was defined. The transient simulation was
started, introducing both phases at the inlet. The superficial
velocities of both phases corresponding to a flow pattern were set
as inlet conditions. After a few time steps, the flow of both phases
was observed to track the formation of the core flow from the
nozzle.
Governing Parameter
The flow patterns of oil-stick-to-wall (OSTW), perfect-core-
annular-flow (PCAF), wave-core-annular flow (WCAF), and
transition of OSTW-to-WCAF from Arney et al.[9] were used in
the simulation (Figure 3).
To analyze the simulation results of the two-phase flow
structure from the nozzle, dimensionless parameters including
a proposed two-phase Froude number (Fr), modified Eo €tvos
number EoM at function of water input fraction (Cw), and mixture
Reynolds number (Rem) were used.
The superficial velocity U (m  s1) is the parameter governing
the flow regime and is defined as the ratio between the volumetric
flow rates of a single phase Q (m3  s1) and pipe transversal
section S (m2) such as the following:
Qo Qw
Uo ¼ ; Uw ¼ ð17Þ
S S
Figure 3. Core-annular flow map.[9]
VOLUME 94, OCTOBER 2016
where UO is the oil superficial velocity (m  s1) and UW is the water
superficial velocity (m  s1). The mixture superficial velocity is
equal to the average velocity of the mixture, Uow ¼ Uw þ Uo.[6]
The two-phase Froude number is proposed to observe the
evolution of oil-water flow structure at a horizontal pipe by the
following equation:
U ow
Fr ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ð18Þ
gDpipe ð1  Cw Þ
where (g) is the gravitational force (m  s2), and Dpipe is the pipe
internal diameter (m). The water input fraction Cw is given as
follows:
Uw Uw
Cw ¼ ¼ ð19Þ
U ow U o þ U w
The two-phase turbulence was calculated by the mixture
Reynolds number[24] with the following equation:
Dpipe U m rm
Rem ¼ ð20Þ
mm
where rm is the mixture density (kg  m3); rm ¼ rw Cw þ ro
(1  Cw), mm is the mixture viscosity (kg  m1  s1) (see
definition in Bannwart[18]); mm ¼ Hw/mw, and Hw is the holdup
volume fraction;[9] and Hw ¼ Cw [1 þ 0.35 (1  Cw)].
The criterion of Equation (21) predicts core flow stabilization by
the effect of interfacial stratification:[18]
pDr g D2pipe
ð1  Cw Þ < 8 ð21Þ
4s ow
where sow is the interfacial tension (N m1), Dr is the density
difference (kg  m3) between oil and water, and p is the peripheral
flow in the annulus. Equation (21) was simplified in terms of the
Eo€tvos number (Eo) ¼ DrgD2pipe/8s in function of the oil input
fraction (1  Cw) resulting the modified Eo €tvos number (EoM):
4
EoM ¼ Eo ð1  Cw Þ < ð22Þ
p
The criterion of EoM < 1 is applied for systems which resemble the
micro-gravity two-phase flow. In this case the interfacial tension
plays an important role when the low water input fraction is
Cw < 0.42.[18]
VALIDATION
In order to validate the simulation, the resuslts have been
superimposed in the flow regime map[9] (Figure 3), and the
photographs of the core-annular flow structure with the core
position in the pipe of upward eccentricity,[47] oscillatory
eccentricity,[48] and concentric core[49] have been superimposed
in the Eo€tvos number distribution (Figure 4). The criterion of the
core flow formation from the nozzle was analyzed with modified
Eo€tvos number (EoM < 1) and Froude number for inertial effect
(Fr > 1). A good formation of core flow was observed for the core
position of an upward eccentric core with EoM ¼ 0.39 and Fr > 1,
oscillatory eccentric core with EoM ¼ 0.30–0.34 with Fr > 1, and
concentric core with EoM ¼ 0.29 and Fr > 0.85. Figures 3–4 depict
reasonable behaviour between the simulated and the experimental
flow patterns in most the cases.
THE CANADIAN JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING 2007

€ tvos number and Froude
Figure 4. Formation of core-annular flow with Eo
number.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Effect of Nozzle at the Oil-Water Interface Formation
In order to obtain the length of the nozzle used in the simulation,
the entrance length (Lentrance) was calculated into the nozzle for
the laminar regime, and the transition regime of laminar to
turbulent using the equation given:[50]
ro U nozzle D2nozzle
Lentrance ¼ 0:05 Reoil Dnozzle ¼ 0:05 ð23Þ
mo
Unozzle is oil superficial velocity (m  s1) for the nozzle from the
maximum oil flow rate (Table 1) and Dnozzle is the internal
diameter (m) of the nozzle (Figure 1). The value of nozzle length
(Lnozzle) is assumed as Lnozzle ¼ 2Lentrance. The term 2Lentrance is
approximately the nozzle internal diameter; hence in this work
the nozzle length is considered equal to the internal diameter
(Lnozzle ¼ Dnozzle
2Lentrance).
Initial Interfacial Shape
In all simulations, the core was slightly contracted by water
reverse flow at the nozzle exit. The effect of the nozzle becomes
important due to the onset of entrainment by interfacial shear and
core eccentricity forming the interfacial stratification.
The water reverse flow occurred when an oil mass deficit in the
velocity profiles of the boundary layer was generated. Thus,
the water dripping comes to occupy the oil mass deficit at the
nozzle exit (Figure 5). The boundary layer separation at the nozzle
exit could be induced by the viscous oil displacement with no-slip
at the wall, and a sudden change of area (Figure 6).
Effect of the Input Dynamic Pressure Distribution
In the simulation, the effects of the uniform pressure distribution
in the core, the unstable pressure distribution in the core and
annulus, and the uniform pressure distribution in the core and
annulus were observed from the nozzle discharge forming the
interfacial instability. This can be described as follows.
In the input core, the uniform pressure distribution decreased
near the annular flow. The effect of the pressure distribution and a
combination with less lubrication force and buoyancy force could
2008 THE CANADIAN JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
Figure 5. Development of viscous oil flow into the nozzle.
form an upward eccentric core with high wave amplitude for
Cw ¼ 0.09 (Figures 7a–b).
The unstable pressure distribution in the core and the annular
flow at Cw ¼ 0.26 was formed. The input pressure of the core flow
is pushed to the top and to the pipe bottom counterbalanced by the
buoyancy force and the lubrication forces (Figure 7c1–c2).
A uniform pressure distribution of the core flow to annular flow
was observed at Cw ¼ 0.33, where the core could be concentric
from the nozzle (Figure 7d–e).
Flow Structure from the Nozzle
Core-annular flow structures with upward eccentric core
Figure 8a shows an upward eccentric core forming OSTW from
nozzle by effect of gravity force with Cw ¼ 0.09 at Fr ¼ 0.45 and
EoM ¼ 0.39. The eccentricity was influenced by the buoyancy
force and possibly by the instability the nozzle discharge. During
the displacement of the OSTW flow, water drops and mixture at
the interface were formed due to the interfacial stress. The OSTW
flow is a core-annular flow arrangement but with a very unstable
core.[9] In this case, the stabilization of core flow was not formed
with the criterion of EoM < 1 when the gravity dominates the two-
phase system.
Figure 8b partially depicts the sawtooth wave with an eccentric
core to the pipe with high wave amplitude and short wavelength
for WCAF1 with Cw ¼ 0.09 at Fr ¼ 3.06 and EoM ¼ 0.39. At the
onset of the evolution of core flow, sharp waves were formed at
the pipe top with an eccentric core due to the buoyancy force. The
wave evolution presented high wave amplitude which the core
was destabilized forming a structure of OSTW. The initial
formation of waves at the pipe top with the smooth interface at
the bottom has been reported by Ooms et al.,[32] where the oil
velocity is Uo ¼ Uw with a high viscosity of mo ¼ 0.601 Pa  s and
oil core density of ro ¼ 980 kg  m3. The high wave amplitude
Figure 6. Inlet section of the core-annular flow: (a) transversal water
dropping, (b) nozzle discharge, (c) reverse flow.
VOLUME 94, OCTOBER 2016

Figure 7. Input dynamic pressure distribution (Pa) from the nozzle: (a)
OSTW, (b) WCAF1, (c1, c2) WCAF2, (d) PCAF, (e) WCAF4.
and short wavelength were found in theoretical and experimental
studies by Joseph et al.[51] and Sotgia et al.[6] using water input
fractions between Cw ¼ 0.2 and Cw ¼ 0.06, respectively. The
simulation results showed that the OSTW is not consistent with
the experimental regime due to mathematical model limitations
when large velocity differences exist between the phases.
However, Arney et al.[9] reported an OSTW flow structure for a
waxy-crude oil (mo ¼ 0.6 Pa  s and ro ¼ 989 kg  m3) at similar
conditions of water input fraction (Cw ¼ 0.09).
Core annular flow structure with oscillatory eccentric core
For the water input fraction (Cw ¼ 0.23), the simulation of the
OSTW- to-WCAF regime at EoM ¼ 0.33 and Fr ¼ 0.88 was very
well reproduced, partial oil-stick to wall flow and sharp waves with
high amplitude from the nozzle was observed with Rem ¼ 4194
(Figures 8c1–c2). The effect of an oscillatory eccentric core could
Figure 8. Core-annular flow core position. Upward core: (a) OSTW, (b)
WCAF1, t ¼ 6 s. Oscillatory core: (c1, c2) OSTW to WCAF, t ¼ 6.0–6.05 s,
(d1, d2) WCAF2, t ¼ 1.0–1.05 s.
VOLUME 94, OCTOBER 2016
form a non-asymmetric gap and interfacial instability. Therefore,
the criterion of EoM < 1 for the core flow is not applied in this case
due to the core instability by the core oscillatory and gravitational
forces.
Figures 8d1–d2 show a flying flow forming a gap and sharp
waves with high amplitude in the WCAF2 regime for the water
input fraction Cw ¼ 0.26 at EoM ¼ 0.32 and Fr ¼ 2.9. The stabiliza-
tion of core flow by initial motion of the oscillatory eccentric core
was observed at the nozzle discharge at Rem ¼ 10 176. The
amplitude wave and the gap decreased by inertial and interfacial
tension forces and the density difference (Dr ¼ 9.8 kg  m3).
Other authors under similar conditions have reported these
interfacial behaviours. Ooms et al.[31] reported that the buoyancy
forces on the core counterbalance the snake wave, allowing the
steady core annular flow to rise with a density difference of
10 kg  m3. Joseph et al.[51] found a flying flow regime with
superficial velocity of Uo ¼ 0.91 m  s1 and Uw ¼ 0.31 m  s1. In
this case the criterion of Eom < 1 was applied for the core flow
formation with effect of oscillatory core and inertial force.
Core annular flow structures with concentric core
Figure 9 shows the stabilization of core flow with a concentric
position from the nozzle when the Froude number was increased
from 0.88 to 3.96 with an input water superficial velocity of
Uw ¼ 0.5Uo at EoM ¼ 0.29 and Cw ¼ 0.33.
A PCAF pattern was initially formed by the concentric core and a
partial smooth interface at the top of the pipe at Fr ¼ 0.88
(Figure 9a). Transition of the stratified wave to smooth interface
was observed, changing the core position from concentric to
eccentric at Rem ¼ 6529 and Dr ¼ 9.8. In the hydrodynamic study
of the PCAF pattern with the eccentric flow, Joseph et al.[49]
reported that the eccentric flow is stable also to PCAF due to the
linear-stability theory not selecting a stable centre for the core
annular flow.
Figure 9b shows the transition of stratified wavy to smooth
interface for the PCAF-to-WCAF regime for Fr ¼ 0.96. In the
transition to the smooth interface a gap and short sharp wave at
the top the core and a stratified interface at the bottom of the core
were observed at Rem ¼ 6836. The effect of wavy stratified flow at
the bottom of the core, employing similar conditions of superficial
velocity (Uo ¼ 0.26 m  s1 and U ¼ 0.129 m  s1), was obtained
by Sotgia et al.[6]
The WCAF-to-PCAP regime was obtained with the partial sharp
wave at the top of the core and smooth interface at the bottom of
the core with Rem ¼ 7349 (Figure 9c). The core flow was quickly
Figure 9. Core-annular flow with concentric core: (a) PCAF, t ¼ 6.0 s, (b)
PCAF to WCAF, t ¼ 5.9 s, (c) WCAF to PCAF, t ¼ 3.1 s, (d) WCAF3, t ¼ 5.4 s,
(e) WCAF4, t ¼ 1.5 s.
THE CANADIAN JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING 2009
stabilized with sharp wave and smooth interface by the effect of
inertial force (Fr ¼ 1.14) compared with the PCAF-to-WCAF
regime.
Figure 9d shows a flying flow with gap and sharp waves for
WCAF3. During the flow evolution, a wave amplitude is generated
at the core top due to the gap formation at Rem ¼ 7861. The
amplitude wave decreases by inertial force with Fr ¼ 1.34 and
the effect of interfacial tension force predominating on the
difference of densities and gravity in the stabilization of core
flow with EoM ¼ 0.29.
A stable core flow for WCAF4 and Fr ¼ 3.96 is shown in
Figure 9e. The evolution of the interface was stable at the core top
with a low stratified core at the bottom. The wave amplitude
decreases with a stable core flow by effect of the inertial force for
Rem ¼ 15 134 and Uo ¼ 1.07 m  s1. At the bottom of the pipe, a
low stratification was formed in the core flow, probably by the
interfacial stress caused by a high inertial force. For the
stabilization of core flow, Joseph et al.[51] proposed an inertial
criterion to maintain the core annular flow when the velocity is
greater than 0.9 m  s1.
Evolution of Input Dynamic Pressure from the Nozzle
In the core flow evolution, the effect of uniform pressure
distribution, discontinuous pressure distribution, oscillatory
distribution, and discontinuous-oscillatory pressure were ob-
served from the nozzle by increasing the water input fraction and
Froude number (Figure 10).
Figure 10a shows an uniform pressure distribution in the core
and annular flow from the nozzle for WCAF1 with Cw ¼ 0.09 and
Fr ¼ 3.06. A minimum pressure distribution was observed in the
annulus (lubricant) where the upward eccentric core is formed by
the buoyancy force that dominates the lubrication force.
The oscillatory pressure between the OSTW-to-WCAF regime
with Cw ¼ 0.23 is illustrated in Figure 10b. In the evolution of
input dynamic pressure in the core flow, a snake-like behaviour
with motion upward and downward due to boundary force and
the density difference of the fluids was observed with Fr ¼ 0.88.
The oscillatory motion form of the snake and corkscrew waves
were reported by Ooms et al.[31] and Joseph et al.,[51] respectively,
under similar conditions.
Figure 10c shows the evolution of discontinuous and oscillatory
pressure for PCAF when the input pressure is uniform with
Cw ¼ 0.33. In this case, the cause of the instability in a PCAF is
probably due to oscillatory pressure distribution forming interfa-
cial waves at the bottom of the core. The effect of oscillatory
Figure 10. Evolution of pressure distribution: (a) WCAF1, (b) OSTW to
WCAF, (c) PCAF, (d) PCAF to WCAF, (e) WCAF4.
2010 THE CANADIAN JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
pressure at the core bottom could form PCAF disturbed by a spiral
wave call corkscrew, as reported by Joseph et al.[51] Also at the
wavy stratified flow with waves at the core bottom has been
reported by Sotgia et al.[6]
Discontinuous pressure distribution in core flow for PCAF-to-
WCAF with Cw ¼ 0.33 and Fr ¼ 0.96 is shown in Figure 10d. The
discontinuous pressure during the evolution of core flow due to
the inertial force could cause a depressurization in the core flow
forming a gap on the core with Rem ¼ 6836.
Figure 10e displays the evolution of continuous pressure
distribution by inertial force from the nozzle for WCAF4 with
Cw ¼ 0.33 and Fr ¼ 3.96. The input uniform pressure with a
concentric core can stabilize in a short time the core flow by the
inertial force. Clearly, on the flow structure, the gap is not formed
due to the effect of the inertial force (Figure 9e).
Distribution of Turbulent Kinetic Energy from Nozzle
The effects of the turbulent kinetic energy by stable distribution,
unstable distribution, absence, and formation due to the inertial
force from the nozzle discharge were observed in the annular flow
(Figure 11).
The stable distribution of the turbulent kinetic energy toward
the annular flow from the nozzle was observed with Cw ¼ 0.09,
Fr ¼ 3.06, and EoM ¼ 0.39 for WCAF1 (Figure 11a). In the nozzle
discharge, the turbulent kinetic energy of the core flow was
dissipated to the annular flow at Rem ¼ 4190 forming interfacial
disturbances with high wave amplitude and interfacial breaking
(Figure 8b). In this regard, Trallero et al.[10] reported that the
kinetic energy of motion causes a wavy disturbance on the
interface to grow in amplitude, tending to mix the two liquids.
The unstable turbulence distribution from nozzle discharge in
the formation of OSTW-to-WCAF for Cw ¼ 0.23, Fr ¼ 0.88, and
EoM ¼ 0.33 was obtained (Figure 11b). The input core flow formed
unstable turbulent kinetic energy of the input core flow was
transferred to the annular flow destabilizing the interface forming
an oil stick to wall flow structure with Rem ¼ 4194 (Figure 8c).
The absence of turbulent kinetic energy in annular flow for
PCAF from the nozzle has been observed at Cw ¼ 0.33, Fr ¼ 0.84,
and EoM ¼ 0.29 (Figure 11c). During the evolution of PCAF, the
turbulent kinetic energy is not formed in the annular flow with
Rem ¼ 6529. Figure 11d shows the PCAF-to-WCAF regime with
the absence of turbulent kinetic energy from the nozzle exit with
Fr ¼ 0.96 and Rem ¼ 6836.
Figure 11. Evolution of turbulence kinetic energy: (a) WCAF1, (b) OSTW
to WCAF, (c) PCAF, (d) PCAF to WCAF, (e) WCAF4.
VOLUME 94, OCTOBER 2016
 The turbulent kinetic energy from the inertial force is formed
during the flow evolution in the WCAF4 regime at Fr ¼ 3.96 and
Rem ¼ 15 134 (Figure 11e). The effect of the turbulent kinetic
energy could form the direction and size of vortex in the annular
flow and in combination with the inertial force can generate the
levitation of the core.[31–32,51]
Fouling of Pipe Wall
In all cases, the simulation results showed the distribution of
fouling at the wall pipe by the oil. The fouling was diminished with
water superficial velocity (Uw > 0.5 m  s1) and the core was
stabilized in a short time (Figure 9e). A criterion of the minimum
water velocity to clean the pipe wall was of 0.52 m  s1 reached at
3000 s.[52]
The non-slip boundary condition at the pipe wall plays an
important role when the oil phase has contact with the wall and
the core annular flow is formed. The oil film formation in the
pipe wall is due to the injection procedure, when the oil and
water were injected into a pipe initially filled with oil. The
injection procedure with a pipe filled with oil has been used in
the simulation core annular flow by CFD[33–34] and in several
lubrication processes such as: the experimental test of pressure
drop,[11] the restart of core annular flow to clean the pipe by
water flow;[52] and water flow-assisted reduced pressure
drop.[53]
Previous studies have shown that when the pipe wall is
previously wetted by oil, a significant change in the chemical and
mechanical properties of the wall takes place after the exposure to
the oil, where the experimental test presented a consistency in the
pressure drop measurement[6,36,54–58] and the hydrodynamic
stability of the lubricated flow.[51] Therefore, the mechanism is
not fully understood for the phenomena of the hydrodynamic
stability with the oil film in the pipe wall. Thus, this study leads to
future investigations of the mechanism developments of oil film at
the two-phase flow stabilization, cleaning the pipe wall, and
including corrosion analysis using the CFD technique.
CONCLUSIONS
The CFD simulation with k-e turbulence model for two phases is
represented in this work as a good alternative to study the core-
annular flow instability and stabilization from the nozzle in a
horizontal pipe. The interfacial evolution presented good behav-
iour compared with flow map, photographic, and interfacial
structures reported in the literature.
The effects of input conditions of water input fraction,
pressure, turbulence kinetic energy with gravity force (Fr < 1),
inertial force (Fr > 1), and interfacial tension (EoM < 1) were
discussed. The core flow was formed by the effects of upward
eccentric core, oscillatory eccentric core, and concentric core
with Eo €tvos numbers of 0.39, 0.32, 0.29, and Froude numbers
from Fr > 1, Fr > 1, Fr > 0.84, respectively. The effect of the
oscillatory eccentricity core was stabilized by the interfacial
tension and inertial force (Fr ¼ 2.9). Due to the effect of the
concentric core a quick stabilization was founded on the core
flow from the nozzle when the Froude number was increased
from 0.84 to 2.9, and EoM ¼ 0.29. However, an unstable pressure
distribution in the evolution of the PCAF occurred between
Fr ¼ 0.84 and Fr ¼ 1.14.
The CFD technique can predict in a short time the interfacial
shape by the effects of core eccentricity, dynamic pressure, and
turbulence kinetic energy from the nozzle discharge during the
formation of the viscous core-annular flow.
VOLUME 94, OCTOBER 2016
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors are grateful to SIP, COFAA, EDI, of Instituto
Politécnico Nacional by financial support to develop this work.
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2012 THE CANADIAN JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING VOLUME 94, OCTOBER 2016