Each-Phase Metering with Gas-Liquid Stratified Flow Based on the Multi-Frequency Coriolis Principle

Gas-liquid two-phase flows generally have the characteristics of complex and variable flow patterns and flow rate uncertainty of each phase. The entrainment of gas increases errors of the existing non-separated multiphase metering. A novel metering method based on the multi-frequency Coriolis principle is proposed to solve the above problems. Compared to the conventional Coriolis mass flowmeter, the third-order mode of the measuring tube is used to improve the accuracy of the measurement. The influences of bubble effect and resonance effect on vibration responses in different vibrational modes were studied to determine the deviations of the apparent values of total density and mass flowrate by simulation. Simulation results with a single-frequency Coriolis flowmeter show that the maximum relative deviations of total density and total mass flowrate are −37.3% and −9.3%, respectively. Driven by different frequencies, the same two phase fluid in the measuring tube can have different responses of the primary mode and the higher vibrational modes. The vibrational responses characteristics corresponding to the first-order and third-order modes of measuring tube were selected and analyzed. Combined with advantages of high precision and multi-parameter measurement of traditional single-frequency Coriolis flowmeters, a multi-frequency correction model suitable for stratified flow was proposed. The results show that the corrected total density and mass flow deviations of gas-containing fluid are within ±4% and ±3%, respectively, which are significantly reduced. Corrected flowrate deviations of the gas-phase and liquid-phase are ±9.1% and ±7.2%, correspondingly, which also meet the metering requirements of the wellhead.