Very-viscous-oil/water/air flow through horizontal pipes: Pressure drop measurement and prediction

Core annular flow pattern, where a low viscosity liquid surrounds a very-viscous one, may be very interesting for heavy oil transportation. However, in oil production, oil and water rarely flow alone and gas is usually present. Despite several publications on liquid–liquid core annular flow, no much work has been done towards a proper characterization of the effect of gas on pressure drop. The aim of this paper is twofold: to provide a new data base on three-phase (very-viscous-oil/water/air) flow, and to propose a simple model for the determination of pressure drop.