Flow Measurement of Oil-in-Water Emulsions Using Arc-Type Conductivity Probes and Electromagnetic Flowmeter

This paper reports on the flow measurement of oil-in-water emulsions using arc-type conductivity probes (ATCP) and electromagnetic flowmeter (EMF). With the aid of finite-element method, we first optimize the geometry parameters of ATCP through examining its sensitivity field distribution. Afterward, an experiment of oil-in-water emulsions with low velocity and high water cut is implemented in a 20-mm inner diameter vertical upward pipe. A comparative study in water holdup measurement characteristic between ATCP and vertical multiple electrode array conductance sensor is conducted by extracting their respective generalized conductance. The effect of water cut on the measurement in mixture velocity using EMF is investigated as well. Based on water holdup and mixture velocity from ATCP and EMF, oil-in-water emulsions drift-flux model is established to predict individual phase superficial velocities. The research results show that a high resolution in water holdup as well as high predicted accuracies in mixture velocity and individual phase superficial velocities can be achieved with the combination measurement system composed by ATCP and EMF.