Capacitance sensor for hold-up measurement in high-viscous-oil/conductive-water core-annular flows

Capacitance sensors are widely used in multiphase flows, for example, to estimate the hold-up in a given section of the pipe, taking advantage of the different permittivity values of the two liquids. The estimation is obtained by capacitance measurements between two electrodes, flush mounted on the external surface of the experimental pipe. Usually, capacitance sensors are used to investigate flows with non-conductive fluids, but they have the possibility to work also when, for example, conductive water is used. However, the capacitance technique applied to conductive fluids develops some issues. In this paper, we present a concave electrode sensor system developed for oil/conductive-water flows. A key contribution is to propose a modelization to the problem of capacitive sensing in presence of conductive fluids, based on a new approach to the parasitic couplings outside the measurement section. Thanks to this modelization, we propose a new design method for the working frequency and the electrode measurement head.

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► A capacitance probe for hold-up measurements in core-annular flow is presented.
► The probe is developed to work also in presence of conductive water.
► A conductive fluid develops issues that do not allow a correct measurement.
► These issues are analyzed and a new modelization of the physics is presented.
► From this modelization a new electrode design is proposed and validated.