Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) Response of Rising Taylor Bubbles in Slug Flow

• Published in: Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 22; no. 3; p. 1266
• Main Authors: Titov, Aleksei, Fan, Yilin, Kutun, Kagan, Jin, Ge
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 07.02.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Acoustics; Algorithms; Bubbles; Cables; Camcorders; Data processing; distributed acoustic sensing (DAS); Equipment and supplies; Experiments; Fiber optic cables; Fiber optics; flow profiling; Flow velocity; Fluid dynamics; Gas industry; Gas pipelines; Laboratories; Liquid phases; Optical Fibers; Sensors; Slug flow; Strain gauges; Strain rate; Taylor bubble; Taylor bubbles; Vapor phases; Water; Well drilling; slug flow; Taylor bubble; distributed acoustic sensing (DAS); flow profiling
• ISSN: 1424-8220; 1424-8220
• DOI: 10.3390/s22031266

Slug flow is one of the most common flow types encountered in surface facilities, pipelines, and wellbores. The intermittent gas phase, in the form of a Taylor bubble, followed by the liquid phase can be destructive to equipment. However, commonly used point flow sensors have significant limitations for flow analysis. Distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) can turn optical fibers into an array of distributed strain rate sensors and provide substantial insights into flow characterization. We built a 10 m vertical laboratory flow loop equipped with wrapped fiber optic cables to study the DAS response of rising Taylor bubbles. Low-passed DAS data allow for velocity tracking of Taylor bubbles of different sizes and water velocities. Moreover, we measured the velocity of the wake region following the Taylor bubble and explored the process of Taylor bubbles merging. The amplitude analysis of DAS data allows for the estimation of Taylor bubble size. We conclude that DAS is a promising tool for understanding Taylor bubble properties in a laboratory environment and monitoring destructive flow in facilities across different industries to ensure operations are safe and cost-effective.