A new correlation to determine the Lockhart-Martinelli parameter from vertical differential pressure for horizontal venturi tube over-reading correction. (December 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Chen, Yuan; Chinello, Gabriele; Tait, Paul; Jia, Jiabin
• Is Part Of: Flow measurement and instrumentation. Volume 88(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-12
• Subjects: Venturi meter -- Wet gas -- Over-reading correction -- Lockhart-martinelli parameter -- Differential pressure; Fluid dynamic measurements -- Periodicals; Flow meters -- Periodicals; Fluides, Dynamique des -- Mesure -- Périodiques; Débitmètres -- Périodiques; 681.2805
• DOI: 10.1016/j.flowmeasinst.2022.102266
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0955-5986

Abstract

Abstract: Venturi tubes are widely used to measure the gas flow rate in a wet-gas stream. To calculate the gas flow rate, wet-gas Venturi tubes require the liquid loading (i.e. Lockhart-Martinelli parameter) to be known as an input to a so-called over-reading correction correlation. It is challenging to derive the Lockhart-Martinelli parameter without installing additional devices in series to the Venturi tube thus adding significant cost and complexity. A relatively low cost and easy to implement method is to derive the Lockhart-Martinelli parameter by measuring the pressure drop across the Venturi tube or along a pipe section. A correlation that predicts the Lockhart-Martinelli parameter by measuring the pressure drop along a vertical pipe section downstream of the Venturi tube is presented. The correlation was obtained by fitting experimental results from TUV-SUD National Engineering Laboratory's wet-gas test facility with nitrogen-water in a 4″ vertical pipe, Lockhart-Martinelli from 0.04 to 0.29, and gas Froude number from 1 to 2.7. Further experiments were conducted at Spirax Sarco Engineering plc to evaluate the performance of the proposed correlation under steam-water conditions. Tests were conducted with steam-water in a vertical 2″ pipe, Lockhart-Martinelli from 0.005 to 0.064, and gas Froude number from 0.55 to 1.35. The Lockhart-Martinelli parameter is predicted within ±0.035 absolute value with the proposed new correlation for both the National Engineering Laboratory and Spirax Sarco datasets. Gas flow rate values within approximately ±5% error are obtained with the proposed correlation together with ISO/TR 11583 over-reading correlation for the NEL dataset. Although further improvements to the proposed method are required, this work demonstrates the efficacy of an agile, simple, and low-cost differential pressure method to aid the Venturi meter to determine the gas mass flow rate in wet-gas flow. Highlights: A new correlation is developed to determine the LM parameter in wet-gas flow. Venturi gas mass flow rate over-reading is corrected within ±5% relative error. The correlation is validated on steam-water flow at Spirax Sarco facility.