Experimental Study of Heat Transfer in Horizontal Gas-Liquid Intermittent Flow

The present work is aimed at the experimental measurement of the two-phase heat transfer coefficient in the intermittent horizontal gas-liquid flow pattern, as well as its comparison with some existing correlations. The intermittent flow pattern is very common in oil production flow lines. In order to reach this objective an experimental apparatus was built, consisting of a 5 cm i.d., 6.0 m long pipe test section fed up with several air-water mixtures pre-heated at different inlet temperatures. Heat transfer was accomplished by surrounding the pipe with a cooling water jacket under various inlet flow rates and temperatures, flowing co-currently with the central pipe gas-liquid mixture. The heat transfer coefficient was experimentally determined and compared with four published correlations. Among then, a mechanistic model was selected for further improvement, with very satisfactory results.