Analysis of Slug Frequency Correlations for Two-Phase Gas-Liquid Horizontal Slug Flow

Multiphase flows in pipelines show several flow patterns depending on the industrial applications where they appear. In oil and gas production, typical flow rates, geometries and the physical properties of the phases make slug flow to be the most common of all patterns. This kind of flow is characterized by an intermittent succession of an aerated liquid slug region and a long, turbulent gas bubble surrounded by a liquid film. Due to its complexity, slug flow modelling has been a challenge to many researchers over the last four decades. Presently, steady-state one-dimensional models based on the unit cell concept and more accurate physical representations based on either two-fluid or slug tracking models embedding transient flow capabilities are available. These models require closure relationships for predicting flow parameters. In the present work, a literature review on frequency correlations is presented. An analysis of the performance of those correlations with experimental data for horizontal slug flows was carried out and its results are presented.