Experimental study of pressure drop measurements of two phase oil(D130)-water flow in horizontal 6-inch stainless steel annulus pipe

The flow of oil-water in pipes commonly occurs in oil and petroleum industries and is a challenging issue. Clear understanding of the frictional pressure drop (FPD) of oil-water flows in pipes is important for determining size of pumps and pipelines in transportation of oils. An experimental study investigation conducted for measurement of pressure drop of oil (D130)-water two-phase flows in 6 inch diameter horizontal stainless steel annulus pipe at different flow conditions. Two-phase large scale horizontal flow loop was used to acquire data for different water cuts and fluid mixture (oil-water) flow rates. Experiments were carried out for different water cuts (WC) ranging from 0-100% in steps of 20%. The oil-water flow rates were varied from 2000 to 12000 barrels-per-day (BPD) in steps of 2000. Exxsol mineral oil (D130) and potable water have been used as working fluids. In order to simulate field conditions, the range of liquid flow rates used matches the range of actual flow rates in oil wells. The FPD has been found to decrease initially (for all flow rates) from WC=0% to WC=20 %. Further increase in WC, causes FPD to increase from WC=20% to WC=40%. This is due to phase inversion. For a given WC=40, for increase in BPD from 6000 to 8000, increase in FPD is about 34%. The outcomes of the study will be helpful in mitigating multi-phase flow problems in oil industries.