School of Electrical and Information Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China.
Sensors (Basel). 2020 Jan 15;20(2):481. doi: 10.3390/s20020481.
The complex flow structure and interfacial effect in oil-gas-water three-phase flow have made the void fraction measurement a challenging problem. This paper reports on the void fraction measurement of oil-gas-water three-phase flow using a mutually perpendicular ultrasonic sensor (MPUS). Two pairs of ultrasonic probes are installed on the same pipe section to measure the void fraction. With the aid of the finite element method, we first optimize the emission frequency and geometry parameters of MPUS through examining its sensitivity field distribution. Afterward, the oil-gas-water three-phase flow experiment was carried out in a vertical upward pipe with a diameter of 20 mm to investigate the responses of MPUS. Then, the void fraction prediction models associated with flow patterns (bubble flow, slug flow, and churn flow) were established. Compared to the quick closing valves, MPUS obtained a favorable accuracy for void fraction measurement with absolute average percentage error equaling 8.983%, which indicates that MPUS can satisfactorily measure the void fraction of oil-gas-water three-phase flow.
油气水三相流的复杂流型结构和界面效应使得空隙率测量成为一个具有挑战性的问题。本文报道了使用相互垂直的超声传感器（MPUS）测量油气水三相流的空隙率。两对超声探头安装在同一管段上以测量空隙率。借助有限元方法，我们首先通过检查其灵敏度场分布来优化 MPUS 的发射频率和几何参数。然后，在直径为 20mm 的垂直上升管中进行了油气水三相流实验，以研究 MPUS 的响应。然后，建立了与流型（气泡流、段塞流和湍流传质）相关的空隙率预测模型。与快速关闭阀相比，MPUS 获得了令人满意的空隙率测量精度，绝对平均百分比误差等于 8.983%，这表明 MPUS 可以很好地测量油气水三相流的空隙率。
