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Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 91 (2018) 175–183

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Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science


journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/etfs

Flow rate measurement of low GVF gas-liquid two-phase flow with a V-Cone MARK
meter

Xuebo Zheng, Xiaodong Sun, Bofeng Bai
State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Accurate online measurement of the liquid flow rate in a low GVF gas-liquid two-phase flow is of great im-
Flow rate measurement portance for engineering and science. In the present study, a cost-effective metering method is developed on the
Gas-liquid two-phase flow basis of a V-Cone meter. Experiments are carried out in a horizontal test section and the fluids are air and water
V-Cone with GVF of 0–12.2%. The flow characteristics of the V-Cone throttle device with low GVF gas-liquid two-phase
Two-phase mass flow coefficient
flow passing through are investigated. Experiments show that the V-Cone throttle device can modulate the flow
Pressure loss
pattern and the gas presence in a liquid flow can accelerate the development of the flow downstream of the cone.
To correct the gas-induced liquid flow rate prediction error, a dimensionless parameter termed the two-phase
mass flow coefficient is proposed. Experimental results indicate that the coefficient is dependent on the gas
densiometric Froude number, the liquid densiometric Froude number and the gas-to-liquid density ratio, and the
consequent correlation is obtained by data fitting. Besides, the permanent pressure loss of the V-Cone is in-
vestigated and a prediction correlation for the two-phase pressure loss is proposed. Finally, by incorporating the
two-phase mass flow correlation and the pressure loss correlation, a metering method for the liquid flow rate in a
low GVF gas-liquid two-phase flow is developed. The relative error of the liquid mass flow rate predicted by the
method is less than ± 4.0% at the confidence level of 97.5%. The newly developed metering method provides a
high-accuracy as well as cost-effective measurement technology for the industry.

1. Introduction their simplicity and reliability, DP meters are the most popular flow
meters applied in industry. Among which, V-Cone meters have received
Gas-liquid two-phase flow with low gas volume fraction (GVF) is increasing attention for its excellent performance.
characterized by a liquid continuous flow with entrained gas bubbles, V-Cone meter was first introduced by the McCrometer company in
which exists in many industrial applications, particularly in the oil and the 1980s. Compared with traditional DP meters, the V-Cone meter has
gas production industry [1,2]. The accurate measurement of low GVF many outstanding advantages [14], such as high accuracy, great re-
gas-liquid two-phase flow is of great importance either from a technical peatability, large turndown, short straight length and low signal noise.
point of view for process monitoring or from a scientific point of view V-Cone meters have been successfully applied in single-phase flow rate
for understanding the physical phenomenon. Due to the inherent measurement, and in recent years, much research work has been car-
complexity of gas-liquid two-phase flow and the unpredictable field ried out to measure the gas-liquid two-phase flow with a V-Cone meter.
conditions, measuring low GVF two-phase flow in industrial applica- The majority of the studies are focused on the wet gas (i.e., gas-liquid
tions is, however, a perplexing problem. two-phase flow with high GVF) [15–18], whereas rare work has been
In the past few decades, numerous meters designed for gas-liquid done in regard to the measurement of low GVF gas-liquid two-phase
two-phase flow have been developed. The reported meters can be flow.
roughly divided into two categories: those based on differential pres- As for low GVF gas-liquid two-phase flow, the flow rate measure-
sure (DP) meters, such as orifice plate meters [3–5], Venturi meters ment of interest is generally the flow rate of the continuous liquid flow.
[6,7] and V-Cone meters [8,9], and those based on non-DP meters, such When a DP meter is applied to low GVF gas-liquid two-phase flow, the
as turbine meters [10], vortex meters [11] and Coriolis meters [12]. apparent liquid flow rate calculated by the generic mass flow rate
There are also prototypes that incorporate the two types, for example, a equation due to the two-phase differential pressure will be larger than
Venturi meter and a vortex meter combined in series [13]. Owing to the actual value. To correct the gas-induced liquid flow rate prediction


Corresponding author.
E-mail address: bfbai@mail.xjtu.edu.cn (B. Bai).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.expthermflusci.2017.10.022
Received 7 September 2017; Received in revised form 20 October 2017; Accepted 22 October 2017
Available online 24 October 2017
0894-1777/ © 2017 Published by Elsevier Inc.
X. Zheng et al. Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 91 (2018) 175–183

Nomenclature Greek symbols

English symbols β equivalent diameter ratio (−)


δ relative error (%)
a slope of the fitted line in Fig. 10 (−) ΔP differential pressure (Pa)
A area of the meter inlet (m2) ΔPm pressure loss (Pa)
At cross-sectional area at the throat (m2) ε expansibility factor (−)
Cd discharge coefficient (−) ζ resistance factor (−)
d maximum diameter of the V-Cone (m2) μ viscosity (Pa·s)
D pipe internal diameter (m) ρ density (kg/m3)
Fr densiometric Froude number (−)
g gravitational acceleration constant (m/s2) Subscripts
k slope of the fitted line in Fig. 12 (−)
K two-phase mass flow coefficient (−) app apparent
m mass flow rate (kg/s) g gas phase
P pressure (Pa) l liquid phase
Re Reynolds number (−) tp two-phase
T temperature (°C)
U velocity (m/s) Abbreviation
Usg superficial gas velocity (m/s)
Usl superficial liquid velocity (m/s) DP differential pressure
DR gas-to-liquid density ratio
GVF gas volume fraction

error, a common method is to develop a measurement correlation. D 2−d 2


β=
However, the prediction error can be corrected by the correlation only D2 (1)
when the gas flow rate or some form of phase fraction information is
initially provided. To implement the measurement, there have been The test section in this study is shown in Fig. 2. The polymethyl
attempts to couple the meter with a void fraction sensor [19,20]. Note methacrylate (PMMA) pipe is used for visual observation of the gas-
that when a gas-liquid two-phase flow passes through a throttle device, liquid two-phase flow pattern. To investigate the pressure drop of the V-
the permanent pressure loss is relevant to the phase fraction [21]. Cone throttle device, two upstream pressure ports (P1′, P1) and three
Therefore, by incorporating the pressure loss, it is promising to develop downstream pressure ports (P2, P3, P4) are arranged along the flow
a method to measure the liquid flow rate of low GVF gas-liquid two- direction. Five sets of differential pressures (DP0, DP1, DP2, DP3, DP4)
phase flow with a single throttle device. and one set of static pressure (P1) are measured. The definitions of the
In this paper, laboratory experiments are carried out to investigate differential pressures and the calculating method for the static pressures
the low GVF gas-liquid two-phase flow passing through a V-Cone are tabulated in Table 1. A high-speed camera with the frame rate of
throttle device, aimed at developing an online metering method of the 1000 fps is used to record the flow.
liquid flow rate. The flow characteristics of the V-Cone throttle device
are investigated. A dimensionless parameter termed the two-phase mass 2.2. Experimental scheme
flow coefficient is adopted to correct the gas-induced liquid flow rate
prediction error. The effects of the influential parameters on the coef- The experiments are carried out in the Gas-liquid Two-phase Flow
ficient are investigated and a correlation is obtained by data fitting. The Loop of Xi’an Jiaotong University. The experimental facility consists of
permanent pressure loss of the V-Cone is investigated and a prediction the feed water and the feed air loops, and instruments are equipped to
correlation for the two-phase pressure loss is proposed. Finally, by in- measure the single-phase flow parameters (flow rate, temperature and
corporating the two-phase mass flow coefficient correlation and the pressure). The gas and liquid are mixed in a honeycomb gas-liquid
pressure loss correlation, a metering method for the liquid flow rate in mixer. The V-Cone test section is located approximately 100 pipe dia-
low GVF gas-liquid two-phase flow is developed. meters downstream of the outlet of the gas-liquid mixer. The un-
certainties of the temperature transmitter, the pressure transmitter, the
differential pressure transmitter, the gas flow meter and the liquid flow
2. Experimental method meter are ± 0.15 °C, ± 0.075%, ± 0.075%, ± 0.5% and ± 0.1%, re-
spectively. More details of the experimental facility are available in
2.1. Test section Refs. [18,22].
The flow system pressure range is 0.1–0.3 MPa. The superficial gas
The sketch of the V-Cone throttle device is shown in Fig. 1. A pair of velocity, Usg, and the superficial liquid velocity, Usl, are in the ranges of
V-shaped cones (the front-cone and back-cone) are connected and held 0–0.2 m/s and 0.276–1.614 m/s, respectively. The gas volume fraction
by a supporting bar. The front-cone angle, Ф, and the back-cone angle,
θ, are 45° and 135°, respectively. The high pressure port situates on the
upstream side of the V-Cone, where the influence of the V-Cone on the
flow is negligible. The low pressure is obtained at the apex of the back-
cone, which passes through the V-Cone and is measured from the low
pressure port. The recovery pressure port is located in the downstream
of the V-Cone where the static pressure has recovered. In this study, the
pipe internal diameter, D, is 50 mm, and the equivalent diameter ratio,
β, is 0.55. β is defined by Eq. (1). Fig. 1. Sketch of the V-Cone throttle device.

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X. Zheng et al. Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 91 (2018) 175–183

Fig. 2. Test section.

Table 1 ρl Ul D
Rel =
Differential pressure and static pressure of the V-Cone test section shown in Fig. 2. μl (4)
Differential pressure (DP) Static pressure (P) ml
where Ul is the liquid velocity, Ul = ρl A
; A is the cross-sectional area of
DP0 = P1′ − P1 P1′ = P1 + DP0 πD2
the pipe, A = ; D is the pipe internal diameter; μl is the liquid
DP1 = P1 − P0 P0 = P1 − DP1 4
DP2 = P2 − P0 P2 = P1 + DP2 − DP1
viscosity.
DP3 = P3 − P0 P3 = P1 + DP3 − DP1
DP4 = P4 − P0 P4 = P1 + DP4 − DP1
3.2. Flow patterns upstream and downstream of V-Cone

(GVF) is in the range of 0–12.2%. The flow distribution of the test Fig. 4 shows that the flow patterns in this study include bubble flow
matrix in the Mandhane flow pattern map [23] is shown in Fig. 3. Fig. 4 and elongated bubble flow. The bubbles flow along the top of the pipe
shows the typical oncoming flow patterns observed in this study. due to the buoyancy force. Fig. 6 shows the flow pattern evolution
across the V-Cone throttle device. As can be seen, the V-Cone trans-
forms the upstream bubble flow into the downstream dispersed flow.
3. Flow characteristics
This phenomenon is attributed to the flow pattern modulation by the V-
Cone throttle device. The upstream flow is accelerated in the tapered
3.1. Discharge coefficient calibration
annular region between the front-cone and the pipe, creating an an-
nular jet; the tapered face of the back-cone creates a wake structure in
The V-Cone meter as well as other DP meters, such as orifice plate
the region downstream of the cone [24,25]. The annular jet breaks big
meters and Venturi meters, use Bernoulli’s equation to measure the flow
bubbles into tiny bubbles and then the vortex in the wake region dis-
rate of the fluid in a pipe. The constriction of the cross-sectional area
tributes these tiny bubbles evenly in the cross-section of the pipe. The
caused by a throttle device in the pipe creates a pressure drop across the
dispersed flow pattern remains a certain distance downstream of the
meter. The generic mass flow rate equation of DP meters for a single-
cone. Then the tiny bubbles coalesce and the flow pattern recovers to
phase flow is shown in Eq. (2).
that of the upstream flow. Owing to the limited lens coverage, the de-
1 velopment of the downstream flow is not recorded by the high-speed
m= Cd εAt 2ρΔP camera.
1−β 4 (2)

where m is the mass flow rate, β is the equivalent diameter ratio, Cd is


the discharge coefficient, ε is the expansibility factor (ε = 1 for in-
compressible fluid), At is the minimum cross-sectional area of a DP
meter (sometimes called the “throat”), ρ is the fluid density, and ΔP is
the pressure drop.
As the V-Cone is a nonstandard throttle device, the discharge
coefficient needs to be calibrated before use. In this study, a water
calibration experiment is carried out. In general, water can be con-
sidered incompressible, hence ε = 1. The calibration equation is as
follows:

ml 1−β 4
Cd =
At 2ρl ΔP (3)

where ml and ρl are the mass flow rate and density of the liquid (e.g.
water), respectively. The result of the calibration experiment is shown
in Fig. 5. As can be seen from Fig. 5, the discharge coefficient increases
with the liquid Reynolds number (Rel) and becomes constant when Rel
is larger than a certain value. The liquid Reynolds number (Rel) is
Fig. 3. Experimental conditions distribution in Mandhane flow pattern map.
calculated by Eq. (4).

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X. Zheng et al. Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 91 (2018) 175–183

Fig. 6. Flow patterns upstream and downstream of V-Cone. Usl = 0.85 m/s: (a)
Usg = 0.009 m/s, (b) Usg = 0.0308 m/s, (c) Usg = 0.0739 m/s, (d) Usg = 0.105 m/s.
Fig. 4. Typical flow patterns in the present study. Usl = 0.85 m/s: (a) Usg = 0.009 m/s,
(b) Usg = 0.0308 m/s, (c) Usg = 0.0739 m/s, (d) Usg = 0.105 m/s.
of the cone. To facilitate the analysis, two differential pressures, ΔP3-2
and ΔP4-3, are introduced and they are defined by Eqs. (5) and (6). ΔP3-
2 < 0 and ΔP4-3 < 0 mean that the pressure recovers at 3D; ΔP3-2 > 0
and ΔP4-3 < 0 mean that the pressure recovers at 6D.
ΔP3 − 2 = P3−P2 (5)

ΔP4 − 3 = P4−P3 (6)

Fig. 8 shows the analysis of pressure recovery length for single-


phase liquid flow and gas-liquid two-phase flow. Fig. 8(a) indicates
that, for single-phase liquid flow, the pressure recovers at 6D, while
Fig. 8(b) indicates that, for gas-liquid two-phase flow, the pressure re-
covers at 3D. The superficial Reynolds number (Resl = ρlUslD/μl) of the
data points in Fig. 8(b) is in the range of 13,700–80,300, which covers
all the cases in this study.

4. Flow rate metering method

4.1. Two-phase mass flow coefficient

Fig. 5. Discharge coefficient calibration. Similar to the case of wet gas flow [21], when a DP meter is applied
to the low GVF gas-liquid two-phase flow, the presence of the gas with
3.3. Pressure recovery length the liquid causes the differential pressure produced (ΔPtp) to be higher

According to the conservation equations of mass and energy, when


the fluid passes through a throttle device, the pressure in a DP meter
drops due to the transfer of pressure energy into kinetic energy and then
recovers within a certain distance due to the recovery of pressure en-
ergy. However, the pressure cannot recover to the initial value due to
the permanent energy loss caused by friction and turbulent dissipation.
After the recovery of pressure energy, the static pressure continues to
drop due to the friction of the fluid with the pipe. The pressure recovery
length denotes the distance from the throat of the throttle device to a
downstream position where the flow has fully developed and the
pressure energy has recovered. Fig. 7 shows the static pressures of the
V-Cone test section along the flow direction, where P1′ and P1 are static
pressures upstream of the cone, P0 is the static pressure at the apex of
the back-cone, P2, P3 and P4 are static pressures at 3D, 6D and 9D
downstream of the cone, respectively.
In this study, the pressure recovery length is determined using the
following method [22]: if P2 > P3 > P4, it is reasonable to infer that
the pressure has recovered at 3D downstream of the cone; if
P2 < P3 > P4, the pressure recovers at 6D rather than 3D downstream Fig. 7. Static pressures along the flow direction.

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X. Zheng et al. Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 91 (2018) 175–183

Fig. 8. Analysis of pressure recovery length. (a) single-phase liquid flow, (b) gas-liquid two-phase flow.

than what would be read if the liquid phase flowed alone. As a con- Fig. 10 shows the effects of the influential parameters on K. The two
sequence, the liquid mass flow rate calculated by applying the generic figures indicate that K decreases as Frg/Frl increases. Moreover, the
mass flow rate equation (Eq. (2)) with the use of the two-phase dif- curves exhibit good linearity. For simplicity, a linear function is used to
ferential pressure (ΔPtp) is larger than the actual value. The over-esti- fit the experimental data, as is shown in Eq. (13).
mated liquid mass flow rate is called the apparent liquid mass flow rate,
ml,app, which is calculated by Eq. (7). The deviation of the apparent Frg
K=a +1
liquid mass flow rate from the actual value is shown in Fig. 9. As can be Frl (13)
seen, the gas presence in the liquid flow causes considerable prediction
error. where a is the slope of the fitted line. Fig. 10(a) indicates that a in-
creases with the increase of Frl, while Fig. 10(b) indicates that a de-
1
ml,app = Cd εAt 2ρl ΔPtp creases with the increase of DR. The relationship of these three para-
1−β 4 (7) meters (e.g., a, Frl, DR) is obtained by data fitting, and the fitted
equation is shown as follows:
where ρl and ΔPtp are the liquid density and the two-phase differential
pressure, respectively. 0.879
To correct the gas-induced liquid flow rate prediction error, a di- a = −53.137 + + 21.416Frl
ρg / ρl (14)
mensionless parameter termed the two-phase mass flow coefficient (K)
is proposed, which is defined as the ratio of the total mass flow rate (the
Substituting Eq. (14) into Eq. (13) gives the correlation of the two-
sum of the gas and liquid mass flow rates) to the apparent liquid mass
phase mass flow coefficient:
flow rate, as is shown in Eq. (8). The two-phase mass flow coefficient
denotes the influence of the gas phase on the measurement of the liquid
flow rate when a small volume of gas is present in a liquid flow. Note ⎛ 0.879 ⎞ Frg
K = ⎜−53.137 + + 21.416Frl ⎟ +1
that K is reduced to 1 when mg = 0, as ml,app equals to ml in this case. ρg / ρl Frl
⎝ ⎠ (15)
mg + ml
K= Combining Eqs. (7), (8) and (15), and after rearranging, the liquid
ml,app (8)
flow rate measurement correlation based on the two-phase mass flow
where mg and ml are the gas mass flow rate and the liquid mass flow coefficient is obtained:
rate, respectively.
Dimensional analysis (not presented here) demonstrates that the
two-phase mass flow coefficient (K) is mainly dependent on the gas
densiometric Froude number (Frg), the liquid densiometric Froude
number (Frl), and the gas-to-liquid density ratio (DR). Therefore, K can
be expressed as follows:
K = f (Frg , Frl, DR) (9)

where f is a function found by experimental data. The parameters, Frg,


Frl and DR are defined in Eqs. (10)–(12).
Usg ρg
Frg =
gD ρl −ρg (10)

Usl ρl
Frl =
gD ρl −ρg (11)
ρg
DR =
ρl (12)
mg
where Usg is the superficial gas velocity, Usg = ρg A
; Usl is the superficial
ml Fig. 9. Relative deviation of the apparent liquid mass flow rate.
liquid velocity, Usl = ρl A
; g is the gravitational acceleration constant.

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Fig. 10. Effects of influential parameters on K (a) for different Frl, (b) for different DR.

dissipation, the pressure downstream of the cone cannot recover to the


value upstream of the cone. The pressure difference between the flow
before and after the cone is called the (permanent) pressure loss, which
is considered a mechanical energy loss. Note that the pressure loss is
different from the pressure drop that results from a transfer between
pressure energy and kinetic energy. It is generally accepted that, when a
low GVF gas-liquid two-phase flow passes through the cone, the ac-
celerating effect on the gas phase exerted by the liquid flow at the
throat causes a larger pressure loss than that of the liquid phase flowing
alone. Besides, the higher the GVF, the larger the pressure loss.
Therefore, the pressure loss can be applied as a characteristic parameter
in flow rate measurement of the gas-liquid two-phase flow.
According to Section 3.3, the pressure recovers at 6D downstream of
the cone for single-phase liquid flow and recovers at 3D for gas-liquid
two-phase flow. To facilitate the following analysis, the pressure tap-
ping 6D downstream of the cone is allocated as the recovery pressure
port. Hence, the pressure drop between P1 and P3 is regarded as the
pressure loss (ΔPm), which is calculated by Eq. (17). As is shown in
Fig. 11, the pressure loss increases with the superficial gas velocity and
the superficial liquid velocity.
Fig. 11. Pressure loss of V-Cone.
ΔPm = P1−P3 = DP1−DP3 (17)

⎡⎛ ⎤ In this study, the ratio of the two-phase pressure loss (ΔPm,tp) to that
ml,app 0.879 ⎞ Frg
ml = Frg ρg
⎢ ⎜−53.137 + + 21.416Frl ⎟ + 1⎥ of the liquid phase flowing alone (ΔPm,l), ΔPm,tp/ΔPm,l, is adopted to
⎢⎝ ρg / ρl Fr ⎥
1+ Fr l ρl ⎣ ⎠
l
⎦ (16) reflect the influence of the gas presence in a liquid flow on the pressure
loss. Fig. 12 shows that ΔPm,tp/ΔPm,l increases with Frg. For simplicity, a
linear function is used to fit the experimental data, as is shown in Eq.
(18).
4.2. Pressure loss
ΔPm,tp
= kFrg + 1
As can be seen from Fig. 7, owing to friction and turbulent ΔPm,l (18)

Fig. 12. Effects of influential parameters on the dimensionless pressure loss. (a) for different Frl, (b) for different DR.

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Fig. 15. Relative deviation of the predicted gas mass flow rate.

Eq. (20). For single-phase liquid flow, the pressure loss has the fol-
lowing expression:
Ul ρl2
ΔPm,l = ζl
2 (21)
where ζl is the resistance factor for the single-phase liquid flowing
Fig. 13. Flow chart for predicting the liquid mass flow rate.
through the V-Cone, which is dependent on the liquid Reynolds number
(Rel). In this study, the resistance factor for the V-Cone with an
equivalent diameter ratio of 0.55 is determined by Eq. (22) (also ob-
tained from data fitting).
ζl = 423.944Rel−0.375 (22)

4.3. Implementation of measurement and metering results

Rearranging Eq. (20) gives the expression for the gas densiometric
Froude number, Frg, in terms of Frl, DR, and ΔPm,tp/ΔPm,l, as is shown in
Eq. (23).

ΔPm,tp ⎞ ⎛ 0.038 ⎞
Frg = ⎜⎛ −1⎟ ⎜8.687 + ρ / ρ + 33.713Frl⎟
⎝ ΔPm,l ⎠ ⎝ g l ⎠ (23)
Substituting Eq. (23) into Eq. (16) gives the measurement correla-
tion of the liquid mass flow rate without the input of the gas flow rate
information (i.e., Frg). For simplicity, the expression is reduced to Eq.
(24).
ρg ΔPm,tp ⎞
Fig. 14. Relative deviation of the predicted liquid mass flow rate. ml = f ⎜⎛ml,app, Frl, , ⎟

⎝ ρl ΔPm,l ⎠ (24)

where k is the slope of the fitted line. Thus, the liquid mass flow rate in a low GVF gas-liquid two-phase
Fig. 12(a) indicates that k increases with the increase of Frl, while flow can be obtained from Eq. (24) by iteration. The computing pro-
Fig. 12(b) indicates that k decreases with the increase of DR. The re- cedure is shown in Fig. 13 and is specified as follows:
lationship of these three parameters (e.g., k, Frl, DR) is obtained by data
fitting, and the fitted equation is shown as follows: (1) Input the operating pressure (P), the temperature (T), the differ-
ential pressure (e.g. the upstream-throat pressure drop, ΔP) and the
0.038 pressure loss (e.g. the upstream-downstream pressure drop, ΔPm).
k = 8.687 + + 33.713Frl
ρg / ρl (19) (2) Calculate the gas density (ρg), the liquid density (ρl), the liquid
viscosity (μg) and the apparent liquid mass flow rate (ml,app).
Substituting Eq. (19) into Eq. (18) gives the prediction correlation of
(3) Set an initial value of the liquid mass flow rate (ml0). In order to
the dimensionless pressure loss:
speed up the convergence, a feasible approach is to set the apparent
ΔPm,tp liquid mass flow rate as the initial value.
⎛ 0.038 ⎞
= ⎜8.687 + + 33.713Frl ⎟ Frg + 1 (4) Calculate the liquid densiometric Froude number (Frl) and the
ΔPm,l ρg / ρl (20)
⎝ ⎠ single-phase liquid pressure loss (ΔPm,l) with the input of ml0, and
Once the single-phase liquid flow pressure loss, ΔPm,l, is obtained, then calculate the dimensionless pressure loss (ΔPm,tp/ΔPm,l).
the gas-liquid two-phase pressure loss, ΔPm,tp, can then be estimated by (5) Calculate the liquid mass flow rate (ml) by substituting ml,app, Frl, ρg/

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ρl and ΔPm,tp/ΔPm,l into Eq. (24). If the relative error between ml0 camera show that the V-Cone throttle device can modulate the flow
and ml is less than 0.1% (δml < 0.1%), the iteration ends; otherwise, pattern, namely, transforming the upstream bubble flow into the
ml is set as the initial value (ml0 = ml) and the iteration continues. downstream dispersed flow. Analysis on the pressure recovery length
indicates that, compared with the single-phase liquid flow, the gas
The prediction result is shown in Fig. 14. The relative error of the presence can accelerate the development of the two-phase flow down-
liquid mass flow rate is less than ± 4.0% at the confidence level of stream of the cone. Then, two dimensionless parameters are proposed
97.5%. Compared with Fig. 9, it is worth noting that the relative error to reflect the influence of the gas presence in a liquid flow on the
of the liquid mass flow rate without correction is less than that after pressure drop when the fluid passes through the V-Cone throttle device.
correction when the GVF is lower than about 2%. For very low GVF, the The two-phase mass flow coefficient is introduced to correct the gas-
gas phase is in the form of small bubbles (as is shown in Fig. 4(a)), and induced prediction error of the liquid mass flow rate, which is defined
the influence of the gas phase on the differential pressure is small, so as the ratio of the total two-phase mass flow rate to the apparent liquid
the deviation of the apparent liquid mass flow rate is small. The phe- mass flow rate. Experimental results show that the coefficient depends
nomenon that for very low GVF the deviation is worse after correction on the gas densiometric Froude number, the liquid densiometric Froude
is mainly attributed to error propagation [26]. The derived equations number and the gas-to-liquid density ratio, and the functional re-
used in the algorithm, such as Eqs. (15), (20) and (22), are all fitted lationship is obtained by data fitting. On the basis of the two-phase
equations, and there inevitably exists fitting errors. In the calculation mass flow coefficient, a liquid flow rate measurement correlation is
procedure, the fitting errors will be amplified due to error propagation. developed. To determine the influence of the gas presence on the
Although for very low GVF the relative error of the uncorrected liquid pressure loss, the ratio of the two-phase pressure loss to the single-phase
mass flow rate is small, the deviations are all positive. Positive devia- liquid pressure loss is adopted, and a prediction correlation is obtained
tion means that the uncorrected liquid mass flow rate is higher than the by data fitting. Finally, by incorporating the liquid flow rate measure-
actual value. When calculating the cumulative flow rate, positive de- ment correlation and the pressure loss correlation, a metering method
viation will cumulate and cause considerable prediction error. Note that for the liquid flow rate in a low GVF gas-liquid two-phase flow is pro-
the points in Fig. 14 are symmetrically distributed around δml = 0. The posed, which does not need to initially provide the gas flow rate
benefit of the symmetrical distribution is that when calculating the knowledge or phase fraction information. In the present cases, the re-
cumulative flow rate, the deviations can cancel each other out and lative error of the predicted liquid mass flow rate is less than ± 4.0% at
therefore the prediction error can be further reduced. the confidence level of 97.5%. The newly developed metering method
In theory, once the algorithm in Fig. 13 converges, Frg can be offers a high-accuracy as well as cost-effective measurement technology
computed by Eq. (23), and then the gas mass flow rate can be obtained for the industry. Note that the variation range of the operating condi-
via Eq. (10). The prediction result of mg is shown in Fig. 15. As can be tion in this experiment is relatively narrow, and therefore to verify the
seen from Fig. 15, the relative error of mg is much larger than that of ml. proposed method in a wider range of influential parameters is the next
Besides, the lower the GVF, the higher the relative error. This phe- step.
nomenon can also be attributed to error propagation [26]. In the cal-
culation procedure, the fitting errors of Eqs. (15), (20) and (22) will be Acknowledgment
amplified due to error propagation. For liquid-dominant gas-liquid two-
phase flow (as is the case in this study), the effect of error amplification This study was supported by China National Funds for Distinguished
on the gas phase is considerable. Although the prediction accuracy of Young Scientists under Grant No. 51425603 and by National Key
mg is not that satisfied, the points in Fig. 15 are symmetrically dis- Scientific Instrument and Equipment Development Project, China under
tributed around δmg = 0. This feature demonstrates the robustness of Grant No. 51527808.
the algorithm.
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