Pressure drop in water-assisted three-phase flow of heavy oil and gas in a vertical pipe

摘要

This paper presents measurements of pressure drop for three-phase water-assisted flow of heavy crude oil, water and air at several flow rates inside a 2.84 cm i.d. vertical glass pipe, at pressure and temperature close to ambient. The superficial velocities used in the tests ranged from 0.02 to 1.2 m/s for oil, 0.04 to 0.5 m/s for water and 0.04 to 9.0 m/s for air. The oil was crude dead oil with a viscosity of 5,040 mPa.s and a density of 971 kg/m{sup}3 at 25°C. A representative physical model is proposed to interpret the experimental data gathered.