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Title: The Effects Of Water In Oil On The Performance Of Afour Path Chordal Ultrasonic Flow Meter In A Horizontal Flow Line
Author: T. Cousins, D. Augenstein, S. Eagle
Source: 2005 North Sea Flow Measurement Workshop
Year Published: 2005
Abstract: A series of flow tests were performed at the Ohio University multiphase test facility to evaluate the performance of a four path ultrasonic flow meter (UFM) in the presence of water in oil. The tests used a clear Perspex flow meter and piping, so that the flow behaviour could be observed and correlated with UFM performance. Tests were initially carried out at a wide range of water-cut (water volume fraction), in order to verify meter operation. These tests showed that at higher velocities the water was fully dispersed and UFM operation appeared normal, although the true flow rate performance of the meter could not evaluated due the the lack of a suitable reference measurement. At lower velocities, water separated and formed a river along the pipe bottom. Under some circumstances the bottom acoustic paths could fail to operate due to refraction and dispersion effects when the ultrasound encounters the oil/water interface region. Further tests were then carried out to attempt to quantify the UFM performance with water-cut in the range of 1% and 7%. For these tests, more of an attempt was made to quantify the uncertainty in flow rate measurement. At higher velocities, the combined oil and water volumetric flowrate measured by the UFM was within the experimental uncertainty of the test method. At lower flow rates, the performance of the flowmeter was degraded by water drop out affecting the lower path velocity measurement. This paper describes the hydraulic behavior and gives advice on operational limits for good flow measurement in oil/water flows. The test data shows that the conditions in which good measurement can be obtained correspond well with the API4 guidelines for good mixing in sampling applications.

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