Comparison of Particle Image Velocimetry and Laser Doppler Anemometry measurement methods applied to the oil–water flow in horizontal pipe

Abstract In this work, a comparison of Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) and Laser Doppler Anemometry (LDA) measurement methods was made applied to oil–water two-phase flow in a horizontal pipe. The experiments were conducted in a 15 m long, 56 mm diameter stainless steel pipe using Exxsol D60 oil (density 790 kg/m 3 and viscosity 1.64 mPa s) and water (density 996 kg/m 3 and viscosity 1.0 mPa s) as test fluids. The experiments were performed at different mixture velocities and water cuts. Mixture velocity and water cut vary up to 1.06 m/s and 0.75, respectively. The instantaneous local velocities were measured using PIV and LDA, and based on the instantaneous local velocities mean velocities and turbulence profiles are estimated. The measurements are performed in the vertical plane through the pipe center. A double-pulsed Nd:yttrium aluminium garnet (YAG) laser and a high-speed camera with 1260×1024 px resolution (1.3 Mpx) were used for the PIV measurements. The LDA set-up is a two-colour backscatter system with 3 W Argon-Ion Laser. The time averaged cross-sectional distributions of oil and water phases were measured with a traversable gamma densitometer. The measured mean axial velocity and turbulence profiles using PIV were observed to compare favourably well with LDA measurements. Nevertheless, the PIV measurements are more sensitive for optical disturbances in the dispersed region close to the oil–water interface. Hence, this region cannot be confidently analyzed using PIV, whereas LDA offers full-field measurements even at higher mixture velocities.