Measurement of oil-water flow via the correlation of turbine flow meter, gamma ray densitometry and drift-flux model

The flow rate of the oil-water horizontal flow is measured by the combination of the turbine flow meter and the single-beam gamma ray densitometry. The emphasis is placed on the effects of the pipe diameter, the oil viscosity and the slip velocity on the measurement accuracy. It is shown that the mixture flow rate measured by the turbine flow meter can meet the application requirement in the water continuous pattern (o – w flow pattern). In addition, by introducing the developed drift-flux model into the measurement system, the relative errors of measurements for component phase flow rates can be controlled within ±5%. Although more accurate methods for the flow rate measurement are available, the method suggested in this work is advantageous over other methods due to its simplicity for practical applications in the petroleum industry.