Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 86–87 (2012) 153–164

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Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering

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CFD simulation of core annular flow through sudden contraction and expansion
V.V.R. Kaushik a, Sumana Ghosh a, Gargi Das a,⁎, Prasanta Kumar Das b
a
Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Kharagpur, Kharagpur 721302, India
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Kharagpur, Kharagpur 721302, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In the present work, a computational fluid dynamic simulation has been performed to investigate core annu-
Received 30 November 2010 lar flow through sudden contraction and expansion. Core annular flow of lubricating oil and water has been
Accepted 14 March 2012 simulated using VOF technique and a satisfactory match between simulated data and experimental results
Available online 24 March 2012
has been obtained. A detailed study has been performed to generate the profiles of velocity, pressure and volume
fraction over a wide range of oil and water velocities for an abrupt expansion and contraction. Asymmetric nature
Keywords:
sudden contraction
of velocity across the radial plane is observed for both the cases. The fouling characteristic of lubricating oil at
sudden expansion sudden expansion is also analyzed. The model predicts that fouling can be minimized by increasing the water in-
core annular flow take or the pipe diameter.
CFD analysis © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Increasing exhaustion of light oil reserves and the depletion of on-
shore oil fields have directed researchers to find out possible ways to
handle high viscous crude as well as their transportation. Out of several
methods of transporting high viscous oil, water-lubricated transport
emerges as an energy efficient technology in the last few decades. In
this case a centrally located oil core enclosed by a thin water film is
transported through the pipe. The distribution commonly termed as
core annular flow encounters significantly reduced pumping power
since the wall friction arises due to flow of water only.
Owing to its immense industrial importance, several studies, both
experimental and numerical, have been reported on this topic. The
experimental studies have considered either horizontal (Arney et
al., 1993; Grassi et al., 2008; Sotgia et al., 2008) or vertical upflow of
oil and water (Bai et al., 1992; Rodriguez et al., 2009; Vanegas Parda
and Bannwart, 2001) and attempted to estimate the range of existence
of core flow and pressure drop characteristics (Arney et al., 1993; Bai et
al., 1992; Grassi et al., 2008; Sotgia et al., 2008). A few analytical models
have been proposed (Arney et al., 1993; Grassi et al., 2008; Rodriguez et
al., 2009; Vanegas Parda and Bannwart, 2001) to estimate the pressure
drop in this regime. In addition, various theories have been proposed to
explain the physics of flow. For example, the hydrodynamic lubrication
theory proposed by Ooms et al. (1984) explains how different forces
counterbalance each other in a horizontal pipe. The theory is further
modified by Oliemans et al. (1987), Ooms and Poesio (2003) and
Ooms et al. (2007). Several researches (Bai et al., 1996; Ghosh et al.,
⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: + 91 3222 283952; fax: + 91 3222 282250.
E-mail address: gargi@che.iitkgp.ernet.in (G. Das).
2010; Huang et al., 1994; Ko et al., 2002) have also tried to simulate
core-annular flow. Among these, Huang et al. (1994) and Ko et al.
(2002) have simulated turbulent core flow using different turbulence
models while Bai et al. (1996) have studied axisymmetric equal density
core flow. Recently Ghosh et al. (2010) have simulated core annular
downflow through a glass pipe using FLUENT 6.3.26 (2005). They
have used VOF model for simulation and noted a good match between
their experimental and simulated results of pressure drop and film
thickness.
In all the studies, conduits of uniform cross-section have been con-
sidered. Nevertheless, the use of pipe fittings in cross-country trans-
portation is unavoidable. A commonly encountered fitting in a long
pipeline system is an abrupt change in cross-section (expansion/
contraction). From a survey of the past literature, the majority of the
studies performed on sudden contraction and expansion involves gas–
liquid flow. These studies have predicted the flow regimes and pressure
loss encountered for different area ratio either experimentally (Ahmed
et al., 2008; Fossa and Guglielmini, 2002; Fossa et al., 2006) or analyti-
cally (Ahmed et al., 2007; Chen et al., 2009; Schmidt and Friedel,
1997). In case of liquid–liquid flow, Hwang and Pal (1997) have per-
formed experiments with low viscous oil–water emulsion and reported
pressure profiles and loss coefficients for expansion and contraction of
different area ratios. The only work on high viscous oil–water flow is
the experiments performed by Balakhrisna et al. (2010) with lube oil
and water. They have observed several types of core flow and observed
that sudden changes in cross-section have a significant influence on the
downstream phase distribution.
The present work simulates core flow using the same fluid pair
through the same geometries as mentioned by Balakhrisna et al.
(2010). Such an effort is expected to extend the study over a wider
range of parametric variations and can enhance the physical insight
into the phenomena.

0920-4105/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.petrol.2012.03.003
154 V.V.R. Kaushik et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 86–87 (2012) 153–164
2. Model development
Fig. 1a and b depicts the geometries of the flow passage considered
for computational modeling. Both the geometries consist of two tubes
of diameter 0.012 m and 0.0254 m. The total length of the computational
domain in both the cases is 0.6 m. This ensures enough axial length
needed for the development of flow. For the establishment of core an-
nular flow, co-axial entry of both the fluids with lube oil (μ = 0.22 Pa-s
and density 960 kg/m3) at the core and water (μ = 0.001 Pa-s and den-
sity 999 kg/m3) at the periphery has been considered as shown in
figure.
FLUENT 6.3.26 (2005) has been used for the simulation. Finite volume
technique is used to discretize the governing equations. After discretiza-
tion, the governing equations are solved by using segregated solver. The
computation has been performed for unsteady flow to investigate the
initial development of core annular flow in sudden contraction and ex-
pansion. The assumptions include unsteady flow, immiscible liquid pair,
constant liquid properties and co-axial entry of the liquids through
straight nozzles.
2.1. Governing equations
Modeling of multiphase flow needs special attention due to the
presence of a number of phases, time and space variant interfaces,
multiple scales and large number of interacting phenomena (multi-
physics). Different approaches are used for different flow patterns.
Separated flow with relatively well-defined interface can be simulated
by an Eulerian–Eulerian approach with a suitable treatment for the in-
terface. Considering the hydrodynamics of core annular flow (Ghosh
et al., 2010), Eulerian–Eulerian based Volume of Fluid (VOF) technique
for two-phase modeling available in FLUENT is a suitable choice. In this
technique a single set of momentum equation is shared by both the
fluids.
The governing equations are:
Continuity:
∂ðρÞ
þ ∇:ðρU Þ ¼ ∑ Sq
∂t q
Fig. 1. Schematic of model geometry.
where,ρ,U,α, t, S are density, velocity, phase fraction, time and mass
source respectively. In the present case S is zero.
Momentum:
A single momentum equation is solved throughout the do-
main and the resulting velocity field is shared among the phases.
Assuming turbulent flow, the momentum equation can be writ-
ten as:
∂ðρU Þ h
i
T
þ ∇:ðρU:U Þ ¼ −∇P þ ∇: μ ∇U þ ∇U þ ðρg Þ þ F ð2Þ
∂t
where, P, g, F, μ are pressure in the flow field, acceleration due
to gravity, body force acting on the system and viscosity of the
flow system respectively.
2.2. Secondary phase tracking
The volume fraction of each liquid in each computational cell is
tracked throughout the domain. In each control volume, the fraction
of all the phases sum up to unity. All variables and physical properties
are shared by each phase. Hence they can be represented by volume-
averaged values, as long as the volume fraction of each of the phases
is known at each location. Thus the properties in a given cell are rep-
resentative of the presence of either of the phases, or a mixture of
them, depending upon the volume fraction values (FLUENT user
guide 6.2, 2005). In other words, if the volume fraction of qth fluid
in the cell is denoted as αq, then the following three conditions are
possible:
• αq = 0: the cell does not contain fluid q
• αq = 1: the cell is occupied solely by fluid q
• 0 b αq b 1: the cell contains the interface between the qth fluid and
one or more other fluids.
Depending on the local value of αq, the appropriate properties and
variables are calculated in each control volume within the computa-
tional domain. For example, the density and viscosity used in Eqs. 1
and 2 can be estimated as:
X
p
ð1Þ ρ¼ ρq α q ð3Þ
1
 V.V.R. Kaushik et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 86–87 (2012) 153–164 155

X
p
energy and viscous dissipation rates which are used to obtain the tur-
μ¼ αq μ q ð4Þ
1
bulent viscosity in the flow field.

A separate continuity equation for αq is considered as follows :  

∂ðρkÞ μ
þ ΔðρkU Þ ¼ Δ t Δ:k þ 2μ t Eij: Eij: −ρε ð10Þ

 ∂t σk
∂α q
þ U q :Δ ¼ Sαq ð5Þ
∂t  
∂ðρε Þ μ ε ε2
þ ΔðρεU Þ ¼ Δ t Δ:ε þ C 1ε 2μ t Eij: Eij: −C 2ε ρ ð11Þ
∂t σ ε k k
For each of the cells the following relationship is also valid:
2
p
∑1 α q ¼ 1 ð6Þ k
μ t ¼ Cμ ρ ð12Þ
ε
where p is the number of phases. For the present two phase flow, where, k, ε, μt are the turbulent kinetic energy, dissipation rate and
p = 2. eddy viscosity respectively . Eij is defined as
!
2.3. Interface treatment 1 ∂U i ∂U j
Eij ¼ þ ð13Þ
2 ∂X j ∂X i
The control-volume formulation requires that convection and diffu-
sion fluxes through the control volume faces be computed and balanced
with source terms within the control volume itself. In the present case, The constants are taken as Cμ = 0.09, σk = 1, σε = 1.3, C1ε = 1.44,
geometric reconstruction has been applied. It uses a special interpola- C2ε = 1.92.
tion treatment to the cells that lie near the interface between two A contour of turbulent viscosity at any cross section represents
phases and obtains the face fluxes whenever a cell is completely filled that at the core the viscosity is close to the molecular viscosity of
with one phase or another. oil. On the other hand, the viscosity in the annular region is higher
The scheme uses a piecewise-linear approach to construct the in- than the molecular viscosity of water. This indicates that the model is
terface between fluids. It assumes that the interface between two successful in maintaining the laminar core and turbulent film region.
fluids has a linear slope within each cell. The scheme uses this linear
shape for calculation of the advection of fluid through the cell faces. In 2.5. Surface tension and wall adhesion
the first step of interface reconstruction, the position of the linear in-
terface relative to the center of each partially-filled cell is calculated The VOF model includes the effects of surface tension along the in-
based on information about the volume fraction and its derivatives terface between the phases. In the present case, the contact angle be-
in the cell. After that, the advection amount of fluid through each tween the secondary phase and the wall is specified and the surface
face is calculated using the computed linear interface representa- tension coefficient is specified as a constant.
tion and information about the normal and tangential velocity dis- The surface tension model uses the continuum surface force (CSF)
tribution on the face. Finally the volume fraction in each cell is model proposed by Brackbill et al. (1992). In this model, the addition
obtained by using the balance of fluxes calculated during the pre- of surface tension to the VOF calculation results in a source term in
vious step. the momentum equation where the pressure drop across the surface
can be obtained from surface tension coefficient σ and the surface
2.4. Turbulence model curvature is measured by two radii in orthogonal directions R1and
R2using Young–Laplace equation
From the flow pattern map provided by Balakhrisna et al. (2010) it  
1 1
is noticed that during core annular flow through sudden contraction P 2 −P 1 ¼ σ þ ð14Þ
R1 R2
and expansion, the range of oil and water superficial Reynolds num-
ber (Reso) is as follows:
P1 and P2 in Eq. (14) are the pressures in the two fluids on either side
of the interface.
45 b Reso b 112
ð8Þ In the CSF model the surface curvature is computed from local gra-
7620 b Resw b 25400 For contraction
dients of the surface normal to the interface. Let n be the surface nor-
mal defined as the gradient of αq(the volume fraction of the qth
26 b Reso b 64
ð9Þ
4800 b Resw b 14400 For expansion

where Reso and Resw are defined as: Table 1

Grid independence study.

Oil velocity Water velocity Number Pressure drop Computational time

DU so ρo DU sw ρw
Reso ¼ and Resw ¼ ð7Þ (m/s) (m/s)
of
(Pa/m) (hour)
μo μw elements

Contraction geometry
0.6 0.3 45,396 7187.64 19
Subscripts o and w denote oil and water phase respectively and 55,037 9071.91 27
subscript s denotes superficial conditions. D, ρ, μ and U are inlet 65,105 11,196.16 40
75,851 12,036.54 56
pipe diameter, density, viscosity and velocity respectively.
From single phase pipe flow considerations, (McCabe et al., 1993) Expansion geometry
the flow of oil core is always laminar while the flow of water in the 0.6 0.6 34.769 164.03 14
annular film is turbulent. Among the turbulent models available 42,361 182.62 21
(FLUENT user guide 6.2, 2005) the k–ε model has been selected to 55,105 200.08 38
63,109 206.76 49
simulate the flow conditions. The model estimates turbulent kinetic
156 V.V.R. Kaushik et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 86–87 (2012) 153–164

Fig. 2. Meshed geometry.

Fig. 3. Simulation results superimposed on experimental flow pattern map.

 V.V.R. Kaushik et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 86–87 (2012) 153–164 157

Fig. 4. Comparison of simulated and photographs of flow regimes at Uso = 0.6 m/s.

phase). According to FLUENT user guide 6.2 (2005) n is expressed where,

mathematically as:
n
n ¼ ∇α q ð15Þ ^¼
n ð17Þ
jnj

The curvature,κ, is defined in terms of the divergence of the unit

^
normal, n The surface tension can be written in terms of the pressure jump
across the surface. The force at the surface can be expressed as a vol-
^
κ ¼ ∇:n ð16Þ ume force using the divergence theorem where the volume force is

Fig. 5. Comparison of simulated and photographs of flow regimes.

158 V.V.R. Kaushik et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 86–87 (2012) 153–164

the source term added to the momentum equation and has the fol-
lowing form:

α i ρi κ j ∇α j þ α j ρj κ i ∇α i
F ¼ ∑ σ ij
 ð18Þ
2 ρi þ ρj
ij 1

For a two phase system

κ 1 ¼ −κ 2 and ∇α 1 ¼ −∇α 2 ð19Þ

This modifies Eq. (18) as:

ρκ 1 ∇α 1
F ¼ σ 12 1 ð20Þ
2 ðρ1 þ ρ2 Þ

where ρ is the volume-averaged density computed using Eq. (3). The

foregoing equation shows that the surface tension source term for a
cell is proportional to the average density in the cell (FLUENT user
guide 6.2, 2005).

2.6. Initial and boundary condition

In all the cases the flow has been initialized from oil inlet. The
boundary conditions are reported below:

2.6.1. Inlet boundary condition

Velocity of the fluids is specified at the inlet. In the experiments
reported by Balakhrisna et al. (2010) a specially designed nozzle is

Fig. 7. Comparison of experimental and predicted frictional pressure gradient.

used to introduce oil and water in the pipeline. The nozzle introduces
oil centrally and water in the annular space between the oil core and
the pipe wall. For simulating the practical situation a small pipe prior
to the main pipe is considered in both the cases (Fig. 1a and b). This
pipe is referred as nozzle in the present study. At the inlet of the noz-
zle, the oil velocity is specified while the water velocity is specified at
the annular face between the nozzle and the main pipe. Accordingly,
considering uniform velocity distribution normal to the inlet plane,
the inlet boundary conditions are:
a) For sudden contraction

Atz ¼ 0and0≤r≤0:01 m; Ur ¼ 0 and Uz ¼ Uoil

Atz ¼ 0:06 m and 0:01 m≤r≤0:012 m; Ur ¼ 0 and Uz ¼ Uwater

t=0.45 sec

t=0.6 sec

t=0.8 sec

t=0.93 sec
Fig. 6. Comparison of experimental and predicted frictional pressure gradient. Fig. 8. Development of core flow with time; Uso = 0.6 m/s, Usw = 0.3 m/s.
 V.V.R. Kaushik et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 86–87 (2012) 153–164 159

b) For sudden expansion

Atz ¼ 0 and 0≤r≤0:004 m; Ur ¼ 0 and Uz ¼ Uoil

Atz ¼ 0:06 m and 0:004 m≤r≤0:006 m; Ur ¼ 0 and Uz ¼ Uwater

2.6.2. Wall boundary conditions

A stationary, no-slip, no penetration boundary is imposed on the
wall of the pipe.

Uz ¼ 0 ðNo slipÞandUr ¼ 0 ðNo penetrationÞ

In addition, contact angle between water and pipe wall material is

provided at the wall.

2.6.3. Outlet boundary condition

At the outlet, pressure outlet boundary is used and the diffusion
fluxes for the variables in exit direction are set to zero.

3. Numerical simulation

3.1. Meshing of the model

The meshing of the models has been done using a software GAM-
BIT. Smaller adaptive meshes are generated near the wall since a thin
water film is expected here. To ensure grid independence of the re-
sults, numerical pressure gradients downstream of the plane of area
change are estimated by varying number of meshes. The comparisons
for both contraction and expansion geometries are given in Table 1.
Based on the optimum performance in terms of accuracy and compu-
tational effort, 65105 and 55105 hexahedral elements are chosen for
the individual geometries shown in Fig. 1a and b respectively. Fig. 2a
and b depicts the meshed geometries.

3.2. Discretization method

Due to the dynamic nature of the two-phase flow, variation of the
flow phenomena both in time and space has been considered. A tran-
sient simulation with a time step of 0.0001 s is taken for computation.
The time step has been selected after a rigorous study based on Courant–
Fig. 10. Contours of phase distribution at different time instants at contraction;
Uso = 0.6 m/s, Usw = 0.3 m/s.
Friedrichs–Lewy stability criterion (Varsteeg and Malalasekera (1995)).
For the present case the value of Courant number is 0.5 at the beginning
of the simulation. Continuity equation has been discretized by PRESTO
(Patankar (1980) while momentum, turbulent kinetic energy and dissi-
pation rate equations are discretized by first order upwind method.
PISO algorithm (Issa (1986)) is used for pressure velocity coupling.

3.3. Convergence criterion

The convergence criterion is decided based on the residual value

of the calculated variables, namely mass, velocity components and

a) b)

c) d)
Fig. 9. Phase distribution at different axial locations of contraction, at t = 0.92 s;
Uso = 0.6 m/s, Usw = 0.3 m/s. Fig. 11. Fouling at expansion-contours of oil fraction at smaller and larger pipe.
160 V.V.R. Kaushik et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 86–87 (2012) 153–164
volume fraction. In the present study, the numerical computation is
considered converged when the residuals of the different variables
are lowered by three orders of magnitude. However in case of turbu-
lent energy and dissipation rate, a still stringent criterion (five order
of magnitude) is used.
Oil and water are introduced at their respective inlets and the un-
steady simulation is started. The superficial velocities of both the
phases corresponding to a given experimental condition are set as
inlet conditions. After a few time steps, the flow of both the phases
is observed to track the formation of the core flow regime.
4. Validation
In order to validate the simulation, the results are compared with
the experimental data reported by Balakhrisna et al. (2010). For this,
the simulated points have been superimposed in the upstream flow
pattern maps of sudden contraction and expansion as reported by
Balakhrisna et al. (2010). The maps (Fig. 3a and b) are represented
in terms of Uso and Usw. In both the figures (Fig. 3a and b) the curves
denote the flow pattern transitions obtained experimentally and the
simulated points have been denoted by symbols. The figures depict
that all the points lie in different region of core annular flow. Figs. 4
and 5 present a few representative simulations of flow distribution
along with their corresponding photographs as obtained from
a) Contraction; Uso = 0.6 m/s, Usw = 0.3 m/s
b) Expansion; Uso = 0.6 m/s, Usw = 0.3 m/s
Fig. 12. Pathlines (C) and phase fractions (D) along axial plane.
experiments. In the figures the pink and the dark blue colors indicate
the water and oil phase respectively. The figures depict a reasonable
matching between the simulated and the experimental flow patterns
in some cases. In several other cases at higher phase velocities, the
simulation does not capture the waviness of oil–water interface proper-
ly. The reason can be attributed to the method of interface reconstruc-
tion scheme of VOF model as discussed by Ghosh et al. (2010).
The simulated data on pressure gradient at up and downstream of
contraction have been compared with experiments in Fig. 6a and b.
The figures show that the model predicts pressure gradient at up-
stream as well as downstream within ±20%. In case of expansion,
the predictions at the upstream lie within ±15% while that for the
downstream lie within ±25% (Fig. 7a and b).
5. Results and discussion
After validation with experiments, the models are used to generate
useful information on the hydrodynamics of core annular flow through
sudden contraction and expansion. In the following section, the de-
velopments of core-flow from the interfacial contours are discussed
for both the cases. Subsequently, the tendency of fouling at expansion
and some measures to reduce it is analyzed in details. Some internal hy-
drodynamics of the flow for the cases have also been reported. In both
the cases, cross sectional contours of phase distribution and other
D
 V.V.R. Kaushik et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 86–87 (2012) 153–164 161

variables are represented as a function of L/D where L is the distance a)

from the plane of area change and D is the upstream tube diameter. A
negative L/D depicts the upstream section of the pipeline while a posi-
tive L/D denotes the corresponding downstream portion.

5.1. Development of core flow

In Fig. 8, the picture sequence depicts the propagation of water

film during the evolution of core annular flow in sudden contraction
at Uso = 0.6 m/s and Usw = 0.3 m/s. From the figure it is evident that
water forms a film around the inner wall of the pipe while oil flows
as a central core.
Figs. 9 and 10 depict the respective cross sectional contours of
phase distribution at different axial locations at a particular time in-
stant and the contours of phase distribution at L/D = − 7 and +7 at
different time instants for contraction. It may be noted that the
right hand column of Fig. 10 shows the gradual development of core
flow with time in the downstream section. From Figs. 8–10 it can be
concluded that the waves present at the oil–water interface are b)
three dimensional in nature and vary both in time and space. A simi-
lar observation has also been made in case of expansion. Neverthe-
less, further investigations are necessary to establish any relation
between interfacial waves and how they influence the results.

5.2. Fouling at expansion

Both experimental observation and numerical simulation has

revealed that fouling occurs downstream of the expansion. This
poses to be a severe problem during transportation of oil. In the pre-
sent study, an attempt has been made to find out the operating con-
ditions at which this problem can be avoided. For this, the flow
situation has been simulated by increasing Usw from 0.6 to 1.2 m/s
at a constant Uso of 0.6 m/s. Fig. 11 shows that the tendency of fouling
is reduced with increase in water velocity. Alternatively, the diame-
ters of the upstream and downstream tubes are doubled keeping
the diameter ratio constant at 0.5. It is noted that fouling is not ob-
served in the latter case for similar combinations of oil and water su-
perficial velocities. The effect of gravity could be a probable cause for
this behavior. Since in the downstream region the axial velocities are
less, gravity has a dominating effect after the expansion. So the lighter
fluid at the core has a tendency to move towards the upper wall. On
the other hand, if the diameter is increased for the same oil and
water superficial velocity, the radial distance which the core fluid
has to overcome increases thus reducing the tendency of fouling.
However, further investigations are needed to ascertain this fact.
5.3. Hydrodynamic study
The path lines of the fluid streams along the axial plane of contrac-
tion and expansion are shown in Fig. 12a and b respectively. The cor-
responding profiles of volume fraction are provided for a better
understanding of the phenomenon. The velocity magnitudes are
also mentioned beside each of the figures. In case of sudden expan-
sion, a very prominent recirculatory zone is observed after the plane
of area change. Such an observation is often reported for single
phase flow. On the other hand, no such clear recirculating flow is no-
ticed for sudden contraction. Further, in case of single phase flow
through a sudden contraction formation of a vena contracta down-
stream of the contraction has been reported. This has not been ob-
served in the present investigation.
Subsequently, efforts have been made to understand the radial
distribution of velocity at different axial locations for both the test ge-
ometries (Fig. 13a and b). In both the figures the firm and dotted lines
denote the respective velocity profiles at the upstream and the down-
stream section. The velocity profiles depict a distinct change in slope
at the interface. They are more peaked in the smaller pipe. The
Fig. 13. Radial profile of velocity at different axial positions.
asymmetric nature of the profiles at the smaller cross-section is also
prominent for both the cases.
Further attempts have been made to understand pressure varia-
tion both for contraction and expansion. Fig. 14a and b depicts nu-
merically predicted pressure variation along axial position. Though
in both the cases there is an abrupt drop in pressure at the plane of
area change, some differences are noted. Upstream of contraction
(Fig. 14a), the pressure drop is relatively less in agreement to exper-
imental observations. A sudden drop in pressure is noticed at the
plane of area change. Subsequently, after the contraction the pressure
drop increases steeply with increasing L/D. However, in Fig. 14b, the
drop in pressure at the upstream section is steeper while at the down-
stream, there is a gradual change in pressure drop with increasing L/D.
these profiles can further be used to estimate pressure drop at the
plane of area change (ΔPc for contraction and ΔPe for expansion) as
shown in the figures.
Next the distribution of the two liquids along the axial distance
after the establishment of core annular flow has been studied. The
time averaged in-situ volume fraction of oil at various axial positions
in the pipe can be estimated as:
Ao
αo ¼ ð21Þ
A
In the foregoing equation Ao and Aare the area occupied by oil and
the cross-sectional area of the pipe respectively. The variation of in-
situ oil fraction (αo) along the length is shown in Fig. 15a and b for
contraction and expansion respectively. Fig. 15a shows that the in-
162 V.V.R. Kaushik et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 86–87 (2012) 153–164

a) b)

Fig. 14. Axial distribution of pressure drop.

a)

b)

Fig. 15. Variation of time averaged in-situ volume fraction of oil along the axis.
 V.V.R. Kaushik et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 86–87 (2012) 153–164
situ volume fraction of oil is almost uniform at the upstream and
gradually decreases with length in the downstream region till it at-
tains a constant value after an approximate distance of L/D = 10.
However, Fig. 15b for expansion does not present a similar trend. In
this case, αoincreases gradually and starts falling further downstream
from the point of expansion. A sudden change in area introduces irre-
versibility in fluid flow. This irreversibility is more pronounced in
two-phase flow and can be attributed as the reason for the above trend.
Subsequently, attempts have been made to understand the influ-
ence of Usoand Usw onαo.Fig. 16a–d shows the variation of αo with
Uso and Uswin contraction and expansion. For both the cases, the
cross-sectional averaged value of αoat −10 L/D and +10 L/D are con-
sidered for up and downstream. The solid lines in the figures depict
the variation of αowith Usw at a constant Uso while the dotted lines
represent the variation ofαo with Uso for a given Usw. αo is noted to de-
crease with increase in Usw and decrease in Uso as expected in both
the upstream and downstream section of the contraction (Fig. 16a–b).
However, there are subtle differences in the nature of the curves. The
decrease in αo with increase in Usw is sharper at the downstream as
compared to upstream while the increase in αo with Uso is gradual in
both the sections. This trend is also observed for expansion (Fig. 16c–d).
Further, downstream of expansion (Fig. 16d) the decrease of αo
with increase in Usw is not as sharp as in contraction (Fig. 16b)
while αo increases with increase in Uso and attains an almost constant
value for a particular value of Usw (Fig. 16d). The disturbance in flow
due to the presence of a sudden area change causes the asymmetry
between the up and downstream distribution of volume fraction.
a)
c)
Fig. 16. Variation of time averaged in-situ volume fraction of oil with superficial oil and water velocity.
163
However, further investigations are necessary for a complete under-
standing of the flow phenomenon.
6. Conclusion
Core annular flow of lube oil and water through sudden contrac-
tion and expansion has been simulated in the present study. Two
3D models have been developed using CFD software FLUENT 6.3.26.
The validation of the models with experiments reported by
Balakhrisna et al. (2010) indicates a good agreement for both the
cases. The following conclusions can be made from the present study:
➢ The interfacial waves are three dimensional in nature for both an
expanded and a contracted test rig.
➢ Asymmetric nature of velocity across the radial plane is observed
for both the cases.
➢ The model has been utilized to predict the operating condition at
which fouling is minimum in case of a sudden expansion. The
model shows that fouling can be minimized either by increasing
Uswor by making the pipe diameter larger.
➢ The oil volume fraction (αo) is found to be constant after 10 L/D in
case of contraction while it increases from up to downstream in
case of expansion.
➢ The analysis further shows that computational fluid dynamics model
can be used for a satisfactory prediction of the hydrodynamic charac-
teristics of core annular flow in sudden contraction and expansion.
Therefore, one can use it for practical design with confidence.
b)
d)
164 V.V.R. Kaushik et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 86–87 (2012) 153–164
➢ Further, the study reports measures that can be taken to reduce
fouling and can thus be regarded as a guide to design cross coun-
try transport network for high viscous oils. Such an effort has not
been reported in literature to the best of the author's knowledge
and is expected to be an important contribution in the field of pe-
troleum science and engineering.
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