Measurment of gas-liquid two-phase slug flow with a Venturi meter based on blind source separation

We propose a novel flow measurement method for gas–liquid two-phase slug flow by using the blind source separation technique. The flow measurement model is established based on the fluctuation characteristics of differential pressure (DP) signals measured from a Venturi meter. It is demonstrated that DP signals of two-phase flow are a linear mixture of DP signals of single phase fluids. The measurement model is a combination of throttle relationship and blind source separation model. In addition, we estimate the mixture matrix using the independent component analysis (ICA) technique. The mixture matrix could be described using the variances of two DP signals acquired from two Venturi meters. The validity of the proposed model was tested in the gas–liquid two-phase flow loop facility. Experimental results showed that for most slug flow the relative error is within 10%. We also find that the mixture matrix is beneficial to investigate the flow mechanism of gas–liquid two-phase flow.

Graphical abstractThe graphic illustrates the relationships between the separation matrix components and the variance ratio of two differential pressure signals acquired from two Venturi meters mounted along the horizontal pipe with an interval. The developed relationships in the graphic are directly used to measure the gas–liquid two-phase flow parameters.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide