The Influence of Pseudo-Slug Flow on the Measurement Characteristics of Venturi

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore the differential pressure fluctuation characteristics of venturi tubes under pseudo-slug flow conditions. VOF model provided by FLUENT ANSYS 14.5 was used to simulate the two-phase distribution of pseudo-slug flow in a classical venturi tube with a pipe diameter of 50mm and throttling ratio of 0.55. Based on the conventional wet gas flow signal, a periodic disturbance signal is added at the pipe inlet to simulate pseudo-slug flow. The axial and radial spatial-temporal distribution of void fraction and time series of differential pressure fluctuation was presented. Under the influence of pseudo-slug flow, the differential pressure of Venturi changes periodically, and with the increase of gas-phase velocity and liquid volume fraction, the differential pressure amplitude and fluctuation increase obviously. Finally, a prototype was developed, and the experiment of pseudo-slug flow was carried out. The simulation results than compared with the experimental results in terms of the average value, peak value and root mean square value of the venturi differential pressure, and consistent performance has been achieved.