An optimised and novel capacitance-based sensor design for measuring void fraction in gas–oil two-phase flow systems

This study explores a new electrode configuration for measuring the void fraction of two-phase flows using capacitance-based sensors. The proposed method is considered ‘skewed’ because of its unique geometric shape, and the performance of the proposed sensor was evaluated and improved via multiple simulations using the COMSOL Multiphysics software. The simulations encompass three different flow patterns, stratified, annular and homogeneous, whose performance themselves were verified in a previous study. The influences of geometric properties and parameters on the sensitivity of the proposed sensor were evaluated to determine an optimal configuration. Furthermore, the sensitivity distribution on different void fractions of the sensor was analysed for various void fractions in different flow patterns. Additionally, the proposed configuration was also compared alongside double-ring and concave sensors to determine the overall sensitivity. At 2.11 pF, the overall sensitivity of the proposed sensor was significantly higher than that of the other sensors. It is worth mentioning that the measurement precision of multiphase flow meters is of high importance, particularly in petroleum industry because of the oil price and also the high amount of transported products.