One-dimensional single-phase flow has only one characteristic velocity, which is the area-averaged velocity. On the other hand, one-dimensional two-phase flow has several characteristics velocities, such as center of volume mixture velocity and center of mass mixture velocity.
Under slip condition, usually they are quite different. In a simple way, one may think that the petroleum correlations and the drift-flux model are an attempt to “adapt” the single-phase momentum equation for a mixture of more than one phase, where the several parameters in the single-phase equation are replaced by average-mixture ones. These two models use different considerations for this “adaptation”. For instance, for friction loss calculation, petroleum correlations use the mixture volume velocity while drift-flux models use the mixture mass velocity.
Normally, the volume velocity is higher than the mass velocity, and petroleum correlations may calculate friction gradients higher than the ones obtained by drift-flux models. This is very important, especially for horizontal and slightly inclined upward flows, where the friction pressure gradient is dominant.
This work compares the pressure gradient evaluated by these two models for horizontal and slightly inclined upward flowlines using available data found in literature. The comparison shows that, depending on the situation, one model gives better results than the other. Based on the results, a new approach for two-phase flow friction calculation is proposed.
The new model represents a combination of the approach used by the Petroleum Correlations and the Drift-Flux Model, using different characteristic velocities (volume, mass and a new one defined by the authors). The new model is very simple to implement and shows good agreement with the tested data.
Application of the one-dimensional drift-flux model for numerical simulation of gas–liquid isothermal flows in vertical pipes: a mechanistic approach based on the flow pattern