Effect of Viscosity on the Pressure Gradient in 4-Inch Pipe

The pressure drop of liquids of different viscosities in multiphase flow is still a subject of research. This paper presents pressure drop measurements of water and oil single phase flow in horizontal and inclined 4 inch diameter stainless steel pipe at different flow rates. Potable water and Exxol D80 oil were used in the study. Experiments were carried out for different inclination angles including; 0°, 15°, 30° (upward and downward flows). Inlet liquid velocities were varied from 0.4 to 1.2 m/s and reference pressure was set at 1 bar. Water and Oil viscosities are 0.798 Pa.s and 1.56 Pa.s at 30°C, respectively.Pressure drop has been found to increase with increase in liquid velocity. Pressure drop has been observed to increase asymptotically with pipe inclination. Upward flows are associated with high pressure drop as compared to downward flows. The pressure drop of water is greater than that of oil for all inclinations. This difference can be attributed to the difference in fluid viscosities and densities. Measured pressure drops were compared with existing empirical relations and good agreement was noticed.Copyright © 2014 by ASME