Description of the Design and Experimental Characterization of a Novel Densitometry System for Measuring Density in Single Phase and Multiphase Pipe Flows

This paper describes the design and experimental characterization of a novel densitometry system that was used to measure fluid density in single phase and multiphase flows by measuring the mechanical vibration characteristics of the flow pipe and its contents. The densitometry system described here uses sensors to provide force, displacement, and frequency data to a density prediction model. This system, when compared with existing density measurement systems, is relatively accurate and inexpensive and does not require the use of a radioactive source, thereby reducing health risks to personnel and the environment. The results from experiments conducted using the densitometry system to measure density in water only and solids-water vertical upward pipe flows were consistently within ±0.5% of a reference density measurement. For air-water flows, the predicted density measurements were within ±1% of the reference density measurement for flows where the in-situ volume fraction of the air in the mixture was less than 8%.