High-Pressure Gas-Oil Two-Phase Flow Visualisation Using Electrical Capacitance Tomography

Electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) was used to image various two-phase gas-oil flows in a 3-inch pressurized test loop. ECT is a novel non-invasive technique for imaging mixtures of electrically non-conducting substances. One of its most promising applications is the visualization of gas-oil flows. This work presents a series imaging experiments using a pressure-resistant ECT sensor. Varying the oil and gas flow rates, different flow regimes were established in the test loop. ECT images were obtained for each case and compared with (a) the flow observed through a transparent section in the loop and (b) the prediction of the Taitel-Duckler flow map. The results confirm the suitability of ECT for imaging gas-oil flows.