Effect of high viscosity oil on flow pattern in horizontal two phase flow

Many studies have considered the flow patterns of unmixable liquids as a significant subject of a research study. It can be due to the distinct manner of liquids with different characteristic in pipe’s setting under various operating conditions. We conducted an experiment with oil (67 cp viscosity and 0.872 g/cm3 density) and water (1 cp viscosity and 0.898 g/cm3 density) in horizontal acrylic pipe with the height of 6m and diameter of 20 mm. The Superficial velocities of water and oil were in the range of 0.18-1.2 m/s and 0.95-0.18 m/s, respectively. As a result, flow patterns were identified for two phasic flow, including Stratified, Bubbly, Dual continuous, Annular, Dispersed water in oil, and Dispersed oil in water. The identification and introduction of flow patterns and the effect of viscosity on it are the considerable aspect of this study by using high viscosity oil. The comparison of flow pattern in this study (high viscosity oil) with past ones (lower viscosity oil) is also an important result.