Methodology for pressure drop of bubbly flow based on energy dissipation

Pressure drop of bubbly flow is a widely used parameter in petroleum industry. The energy dissipation rate is induced by three factors, including wall resistance, bubble breakup and coalescence, which is studied here from the perspective of the macroscopic flow and microscopic bubbles. This work details a model using the principle of energy conservation to clarify the mechanism of the pressure drop for turbulent bubbly flow in horizontal pipes. The model was validated via a comparison with experimental data of horizontal bubbly flow collected from nine previous studies with 200 points. Most of the errors are within +/- 20%. The proportions of pressure drop induced by wall resistance, bubble breakup and coalescence were calculated by the model. The results indicate that the largest proportion is from wall resistance, followed by bubble coalescence, with bubble breakup having the smallest proportion. In addition, the trends of proportion induced by the three factors above are analyzed by increasing gas volume fraction and mixture viscosity. The results show that the proportion induced by wall resistance decreases with the increasing volume fraction of the gas, and increases with the increasing mixture viscosity. The proportions induced by the bubble breakup and coalescence in the opposite case.