Simulation and experimental study of phase segregation in helical pipes: A new method for flow conditioning

The aim of the present study is to contribute some knowledge of phase separation phenomena of gas-liquid turbulent flow in curved pipe and provide a basis for the development of an in-line gas-liquid separator and flow pattern conditioning device. A systematic study of gas-liquid three-phase flow in 3D helical pipes was numerically performed. Gas phase distribution in the flow through the helical pipe was analyzed for various flow parameters conditions and different pipe geometries. Experimental qualitative results show that a helical pipe can, successfully, be used to condition a bubble flow into a stratified (stratified wavy flow). The main idea is to put it just upstream of sensors that are flow regime dependent; ensuring that the sensor, once calibrated to work in this flow pattern, suffers no reduction in its performance and, consequently, avoid additional sources of error.