International Journal of Multiphase Flow 69 (2015) 18–30

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International Journal of Multiphase Flow

j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w . e l s e v i e r . c o m / l o c a t e / i j m u l fl o w

Bubble characterization in horizontal air–water intermittent flow

W.R. de Oliveira, I.B. de Paula, F.J.W.A. Martins, P.S.C. Farias, L.F.A. Azevedo ⇑
Departamento de Engenharia Mecânica, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro – PUC-Rio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Elongated bubbles were characterized experimentally for air–water flow in a horizontal pipe at nearly
Received 26 December 2013 atmospheric conditions. The range of flow rates employed covered regimes at the transition from
Received in revised form 2 October 2014 elongated bubble to slug. Ensemble-averaged digital image processing techniques were applied for detec-
Accepted 21 October 2014
tion of the liquid–gas interface with aid of a set of photo gates to synchronize bubble passage with image
Available online 29 October 2014
acquisition. Quantitative data of front and tail parts of the bubbles were analysed for different mixture
velocities and the results confirmed visual observations frequently reported in the literature. Close to
Keywords:
transition, a linear tendency of the bubble nose to move towards the pipe centerline position, for increas-
Slug flow
Elongated bubble
ingly higher values of the Froude numbers, was observed and quantified. Bubble tail shapes were
Air–water flow quantified and the hydraulic jumps were shown to be dependent of Froude number, while the liquid film
Image processing thicknesses were governed by the liquid volume fraction. Changes on the bubbles characteristics are
apparently linked to variations in the bubble velocities and seem to reflect a competition between viscous
and inertia effects.
Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Introduction
The transport of gas and liquid simultaneously in horizontal
pipelines is present in many engineering applications. During the
last decades, an intense effort has been devoted to the study and
modelling of the flow characteristics in order to increase safety
and profit margins in pipeline operations (see Havre et al., 2000,
for a review).
An important characteristic of two phase flows is the existence
of a variety of flow regimes, depending, among other variables, on
the flow rates of each phase. These regimes are defined based on
the geometrical distribution of phases in the pipe cross section
(see Mandhane et al., 1974; Taitel and Dukler, 1976). The present
work is devoted to investigating the horizontal intermittent flow
regime that is characterized by the passage of a succession of liquid
slugs followed by elongated bubbles travelling above a thin liquid
film. Intermittent flows can be subdivided into two sub-regimes:
(i) plug or elongated bubble flow and (ii) slug flow. The plug flow
regime is found at low flow rates. It is usually composed of liquid
slugs with a low concentration of dispersed gas bubbles followed
by elongated bubbles that move along the top of the pipe. Accord-
ing to Kadri et al. (2009), in this regime the liquid slugs can extend
for more than 100 pipe diameters. The slug flow regime is charac-
terized by the intermittent appearance of aerated liquid slugs,
⇑ Corresponding author.
separated from one another by gas bubbles, travelling near the
centre of the pipe. In this last regime, the frequency of flow inter-
mittence is higher when compared to plug flow. Also, the typical
lengths of liquid slugs and bubbles are much shorter when com-
pared to plug flow.
In the oil and gas industry, significant capital losses can occur
when long liquid slugs are present due to the elevated pressure
levels generated by their passage that can, for safety reasons,
require production shut down. Also, intermittent flows can induce
severe transient loads on the structures with potentially cata-
strophic consequences. Although the slug and the plug flow
regimes are both considered intermittent, the typical loads, lengths
of slugs and bubbles and frequencies associated with each regime
can be remarkably different (see Nydal et al., 1992; Hurlburt and
Hanratty, 2002; Kadri et al., 2009). Thus, it is very important to dis-
tinguish between these regimes for a proper design of pipelines
and damping devices, such as the slug catchers.
According to the flow maps of Mandhane et al. (1974), Taitel
and Dukler (1976), Barnea (1987), Lin and Hanratty (1987a),
among others, for a given liquid superficial velocity, the transition
from plug to slug regime is expected to occur above a threshold of
gas velocities. However, at transition, these two regimes are not
clearly distinguishable, especially for the case of horizontal pipes.
The absence of dispersed gas bubbles was suggested by Barnea
et al. (1980), as a criterion to distinguish plug from slug regime.
Lin and Hanratty (1987b), used pressure measurements to define
the transition threshold. Based on a photographic study, Ruder

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmultiphaseflow.2014.10.014
0301-9322/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 W.R. de Oliveira et al. / International Journal of Multiphase Flow 69 (2015) 18–30
et al. (1989), described plug flows as being an unaerated liquid slug
followed by a gas bubble with characteristics similar to a ‘‘Benja-
min bubble’’ (Benjamin, 1968). Later, this definition was extended
by Ruder and Hanratty (1990), with the aid of pressure pulsation
and void fraction measurements, and photographic visualization,
to include qualitative characteristics of the front and rear part of
the bubbles. They suggested that the transition from plug to slug
regimes occurs when the tail of the bubble approximates the form
of a single-stage hydraulic jump. Although they have measured dif-
ferent parameters of the flow, the major contribution to define
plug flows was derived from qualitative analysis of a restricted
number of images. Based on observations of different behaviours
for the two regimes, Fagundes Netto et al. (1999) also suggested
the use of the characteristic shapes of the front and rear of elon-
gated bubbles as a means of accessing transition. They suggested
the angle of the hydraulic jump at the rear of the bubble as a
possible criterion to define this threshold.
The goal of the present study is to apply quantitative visualiza-
tion techniques to investigate the shape of the rear and front parts
of the bubbles in the transition from plug to slug regimes. This
work was motivated by the recent availability of high frame rate
cameras that, combined with techniques for image analysis, added
new possibilities to address the problem. The combination of these
techniques have been used to investigate two-phase flows in
several works, such as (Polonsky et al., 1999; Nogueira et al., 2003;
Ursenbacher, 2004; Shemer et al., 2007; Mayor et al., 2007; Guo
et al., 2010). The non-intrusive nature of these techniques make
them suitable for studying flow regimes sensitive to disturbances,
such as plug, slug and annular flows. The main drawback of the
technique is the requirement of optical access to the flow.
In the present work, procedures based on back-illuminated
bubble images were combined with a high frame rate digital
camera to enable the extraction of the bubble-slug interfaces at
the transition from plug to slug flow. Back-illuminated bubble
images have been widely used in the literature as a two-phase flow
visualization technique (e.g. Bendiksen, 1984; Ruder and Hanratty,
1990). Also, the acquisition of images triggered by the passage
of bubbles has been extensively applied to investigate bubble
behaviour in two-phase pipe flow (e.g. Gopal and Jepson, 1998;
Polonsky et al., 1999; van Hout et al., 2002; Nogueira et al.,
2003; Ursenbacher, 2004; Mayor et al., 2007; Guo et al., 2010;
Shemer et al., 2007). In the works of Polonsky et al. (1999), Pinto
et al. (2001), Shemer et al. (2007), Mayor et al. (2007), the
techniques for extraction of instantaneous and averaged bubble
contours, as well as for quantitative measurements of the velocity
field around the bubbles, were developed and validated.
An improvement introduced here is the estimation of individual
bubble velocity in real time, what allows for the utilization of an
automatic adaptive adjustment of time delays used to synchronize
each bubble passage with image acquisitions. By this technique,
bubbles travelling at different velocities could still be captured
within the field of view of the camera. This feature can aid in the
study of plug and slug flows in horizontal pipes, since in these
flows instantaneous bubbles can display variations in their veloci-
ties under the same nominal flow conditions. By the procedure
used in the present work, hundreds of bubble contours could be
ensemble averaged with increased efficiency, providing useful
statistical information about the bubble characteristics.
Experiments
The experiments were performed in a horizontal pipe with
internal diameter (D) of 0.0508 m and length (L) of 23 m, yielding
a length-to-diameter ratio of approximately 450. A schematic view
of the apparatus is shown in Fig. 1. The test rig was built from
19
Fluorinated Ethylene Propylene (FEP) pipes, in order to reduce
optical distortions during image acquisition. This material was pre-
viously used in the work of Hewitt et al. (1990), and it proved to
reduce light scattering at the wall due to the matching of its refrac-
tive index with that of water.
Air and water were injected into the section by a ‘‘Y’’ junction
located at the inlet of the test pipe. A split plate was mounted
inside the junction to reduce the level of flow fluctuations at the
inlet. Water was pumped in closed loop at superficial liquid veloc-
ities up to 0.5 m/s. A centrifugal compressor provided air to the test
section with velocities up to 40 m/s. The flow rates of air and water
were measured using calibrated turbines, CONTECHÒ models SVTG
G19 and SVTL L19, with experimental uncertainties estimated to
be within 1% and 0.5%, respectively. At the end of the line, the
air–water mixture was separated into two vessels from where
the water was returned to the pump inlet, while the air was vented
out of the laboratory space.
The measurement section was located at a distance of approxi-
mately 400 pipe diameters from the inlet. It was composed of three
infrared gate sensors, PASCOÒ model ME-9204B, a CMOS high
frame rate camera (Motion Pro X3TM with 1.3MPixels), an illumi-
nating panel of LEDs, and a visualization box. As will be described
shortly, the infrared gates had a dual role in the experiments. They
were used to measure slug statistics, such as slug length, velocity
and frequency, as well as to provide a trigger signal for the image
acquisition system. Downstream of the photo gates, the FEP tube
was encased in a visualization box filled with water in order to
reduce refractive indexes mismatches. On the opposite side of
the camera, the panel of high power white LEDs was installed to
provide background illumination for image acquisition with proper
contrast.
Measurement of bubble and slug statistics
The three infrared photo gate sensors mentioned before are pre-
sented in more detail in Fig. 2. They were employed to measure the
bubble and slug statistics of interest, namely, bubble front and rear
velocities, slug length and slug frequency. These parameters were
estimated as suggested in the work of Polonsky et al. (1999). The
three infrared gates were installed orthogonally to the pipe, and
spaced 0.3 m from each other (Ddgates). According to preliminary
experiments, a sensible noise reduction in the signals from the
photo gates was observed when the sensors were placed close to
the centerline of the pipe. The reason for this behaviour is the high
concentration of dispersed bubbles travelling close to the top of the
pipe. However, for low Froude numbers the elongated bubbles also
travel close to the top of the pipe. Therefore, the sensor is not sen-
sitive to their passage when positioned at the centerline of the
pipe. Thus, a good compromise between the detection of elongated
bubbles and the noise reduction was found when the sensor was
positioned at a height of 2/3 of the pipe diameter, as shown in
Fig. 2.
The first two photo gates were used to measure the front and
rear velocities of the bubbles, while a third gate provided a trigger
signal to start a quartz based clock, properly adjusted according to
measured front or rear velocity. The clock was used to output sig-
nals for synchronization for image acquisitions. For fast measure-
ments of the bubble front and rear velocities the output signals
of gates 1 and 2 were fed to an external XOR logic circuit, which
produced a single pulse of finite duration. The circuit provided a
high state logical level during the passage of the front or the rear
of the bubble through photo gates 1 and 2. This pulse width could
be quickly and accurately measured at a rate of 20 MHz, using a
built-in function of a multifunction D/A board model AT-
MIO-16X and Labview™ routines. The bubble front or rear velocity
was then calculated as the ratio of the distance between the photo
20 W.R. de Oliveira et al. / International Journal of Multiphase Flow 69 (2015) 18–30
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the test section.
Fig. 2. Schematic assembly of photo gates.
gates 1 and 2 and the measured pulse duration. In order to identify
the pulses related to each part of the bubbles it was necessary to
perform a logic AND operation using the XOR gate and the sensors
output signals. This logic operation with the signal from photo gate
Sensor 1 enabled the identification of pulses related to the rear part
of the bubble, while the pulses associated with the front could be
identified by using the signal from Sensor 2. A high amount of
dispersed bubbles close to the front part of the elongated bubble
was observed for high mixture velocities, causing high frequency
oscillation in the output of the photo gates. In order to avoid such
oscillations, the signals from the sensors were low-pass filtered
using a cut-off frequency of 250 Hz.
The length of a liquid slug was estimated by the product of mea-
sured bubble velocity (uB) and the time delay between two consec-
utive pulses. Similarly, the length of unit cells could be estimated
by multiplying uB and the time delay between two consecutive
passages of the bubble rear part (Dt). The inverse of the delay Dt
provided information about the frequency of the slugs. A detailed
description of these equations can be found in the literature
(e.g. Polonsky et al., 1999).
Due to the simplicity of the calculations performed, all param-
eters could be estimated in real time. Velocity information
extracted from the infrared photo gate sensors was used in real
time to provide a proper delay for synchronization of image
acquisitions with bubble passage. Thus, a proper delay for image
acquisition could be estimated and set to the hardware counter
of the quartz based clock (20 MHz), before the bubble reached
the third photo gate. The signal generated by the bubble passage
through the third photo gate was used to start the counter and,
immediately after finish counting, a high logic level signal was
set to a digital gate of the D/A board. This procedure provided an
accurate and adaptive time delay for the image acquisitions, which
automatically compensated for slight variations in bubble veloci-
ties, thereby allowing that bubble front or rear images from differ-
ent bubbles were properly captured at the same position in front of
the camera field of view.
The delayed trigger was used to start the camera synchronizer.
At each trigger pulse, the synchronizer (model BNC-575) sent
pulses to the CMOS camera ordering it to capture 4 consecutive
images of bubble front or rear. The time interval between the
acquisitions was adjusted in the synchronizer according to the flow
mixture velocities being studied. Intervals of 20 ms were set for
cases with low mixture velocities (jm < 1.5 m/s), while 10–15 ms
were used for other cases. Also, the camera exposition had to be
adjusted according to the bubble speed in order to avoid image
blurring. Downstream from the infrared gates, at the position of
the visualization box, an array of 176 white light LEDs was
installed to provide back illumination for the images. The intensity
of the light was controlled by an adjustable power supply. To
achieve uniform illumination in the background of the images,
the light emitted by the LEDs was diffused by a sheet of white
paper.
The synchronization process developed guaranteed that the
front or tail parts of the bubbles were exactly at the camera field
of view at the moment of image capture, even though each individ-
ual bubble travelled at different velocities. This feature allowed for
the capture of hundreds of bubble images that were later post-
processed to produce an ensemble-averaged bubble image, as will
be described shortly. Ensemble-averaged bubble images are useful
experimental information that can contribute to clarify the bubble
behaviour.
The main characteristic of the present study is the analysis of
the bubble features based on ensemble-averaged interfaces con-
structed from hundreds of instantaneous bubbles images. This
technique presents a significant advantage when compared to
the widely used method of imaging a continuous interval of the
fluid flow employing high frame rate digital cameras. The continu-
ous imaging of only a few seconds of the bubble and slug passage
at high frame rates and reasonable spatial resolution rapidly fills
the camera memory space of currently available cameras. Most
of the images acquired in this operating mode are related to the
body of the bubbles, with only a few frames displaying the desired
bubble nose or tail images. For instance, in the present experi-
ments the highest shedding frequency of slugs was slightly below
0.5 Hz, while the lowest was close to 0.1 Hz. If one considers a typ-
ical frequency of 0.25 Hz for a rough estimate, it can be concluded
 W.R. de Oliveira et al. / International Journal of Multiphase Flow 69 (2015) 18–30
that 1 Gbyte of data is necessary to record the passage of only 5
slugs, when a camera of 1Mpixels is operated in continuous acqui-
sition, at a rate of 50 Hz. Using the triggered image acquisition pro-
cedure employed in the present study, only images of bubble noses
or tails are stored in the camera memory, what makes it possible to
store hundreds of such images allowing for the computation of
ensemble-averaged contours and other flow statistics. By using
the proposed acquisition procedure, only 40 Mbytes are required
to record the information of 5 consecutive slugs. Thus, a clear
advantage of the method developed is the optimization of the cam-
era memory and the reduced number of images used in the data
processing. The main drawback of the method is the lack of contin-
uous imaging of the flow, what does not allow for a complete
reconstruction of the slugs.
Image processing of bubble nose and tail
The identification of bubble characteristics was performed
using back-illuminated images, in a similar way as done previously
in the work of Polonsky et al. (1999), Mayor et al. (2007), and
Shemer et al. (2007). This is a simple, non-intrusive, optical tech-
nique suitable for measuring liquid and gas interfaces. It relies on
the acquisition of images with an intense and uniform background
illumination that passes through the flow. At the interface, the
light transmission is attenuated, creating a shadow on the acquired
image.
Prior to analysis of the images, a calibration procedure was per-
formed in order to convert from pixels to actual flow dimensions.
To this end, a semi-cylindrical target marked with an array of
spaced dots, was introduced into the pipe filled with water. After
adjustment of the camera focus to the plane of the target, an image
was acquired and the calibration factor extracted. The FEP pipes
reduced the optical distortions induced by differences in the
refraction indexes of water and the pipe. Thus a single calibration
factor could be used for the complete area imaged by the camera.
With the magnification selected for the measurements, a calibra-
tion factor of 11 pixels/mm was obtained. Although the refractions
indexes of the pipe and the fluid were similar, their light absorp-
tion coefficients were not the same. Therefore, the light was signif-
icantly attenuated at locations very close to the top and the bottom
of the pipe, hence reducing the region of measurements in 10% of
the diameter. This effect is expected to occur also for different
materials and can be reduced by using transparent pipes with
reduced wall thickness. Due to the inaccuracy of the results at such
locations, the bubble contours presented in the present study are
shown within the limits of 5–95% of the pipe diameter. This is a
conservative limit and it was chosen to ensure that no influence
of the illumination intensity at the bottom and top of the pipe
would be present in the obtained results.
The procedures developed for analysis of bubble nose and tail
images differed due to the nature of these images, but shared the
same basic steps that will be outlined in the next subsections. All
the image processing routines and bubble feature extraction
routines were implemented using a Matlab platform.
Bubble nose interface detection from instantaneous images
The procedure used to extract the interfaces of individual
instantaneous bubble images was applied to hundreds of images
in order to allow the determination of statistically relevant infor-
mation about the bubble contours. Each image of the bubble nose
was cropped into a size of approximately one-by-one pipe diame-
ter after the identification of the nose tip. The position of the bub-
ble nose tip was used to align all the instantaneous images.
Although the image triggering guaranteed that all bubbles were
inside the camera field of view nearly at the same position, small
shifts could be observed from image to image due to changes in
21
the bubble shapes. In cases with a high concentration of dispersed
bubbles near the nose of the main bubble, an initial guess for the
position of the nose tip was given by visual identification employ-
ing guided user interface (GUI) routines. This initial estimation of
the nose tip was used to crop the images. It facilitated the auto-
matic detection of the contour, which was performed afterwards.
Other efforts in the literature have faced the same difficulty in
identifying bubble interfaces in highly aerated flows, (e.g. van
Hout et al., 2002).
Standard pre-processing techniques, such as contrast enhance-
ment, background subtraction and grey intensity normalization,
were applied to each individual instantaneous cropped image, in
order to remove any bias that could have been introduced by dif-
ferences in illumination intensity (see Gonzales et al., 2009 for a
review of the standard image processing routines). The standard
techniques for image processing are capable to precisely detect
the bubble interface in images having a low concentration of
dispersed bubbles, such as the one of Fig. 3(a). For the detection
of interfaces in images with a high concentration of dispersed
bubbles, such as the one exemplified in Fig. 3(b), a low-pass digital
filter was applied to the images before the processing. Thereby, it
was possible to detect interfaces in the instantaneous images,
even in the presence of dispersed bubbles. For each flow rate, a
set of approximately 400 instantaneous interfaces was determined,
producing statistic features about bubble nose shape and position.
The ensemble-averaged interface shape was one of these features,
and it was employed to yield all the results presented in the
present study.
Uncertainty estimation of bubble interface determination
The image processing procedures just described for detecting
the instantaneous bubble interfaces are associated with uncer-
tainty levels that need to be estimated. The uncertainty on the
binary operations employed to detect the interface position at a
certain axial coordinate involve binarization of the original image
and open and close binary operations. Tests on samples of the com-
plete acquired image sets indicate that open and close operations
with an average of 10 iterations were necessary to properly iden-
tify the bubble interface. An uncertainty of 1 pixel was associated
with each of these iterations, totalling an uncertainty of 10 pixels
for the interface detection. The uncertainty level associated with
the image binarization procedure was found to be typically of 1
pixel, which can be considered negligible in face of the uncertainty
levels on the interface detection. For the detection of the ensem-
ble-averaged interfaces, a second source of uncertainty should be
considered. It originates from the random nature of the bubble
shapes that constitutes the set of images employed in the determi-
nation of the ensemble-averaged interfaces. This uncertainty con-
tribution was estimated by the standard error, which is given by
the standard deviation of the interface position at a particular axial
location, divided by the square root of the number of bubble image
samples used. The final uncertainty level was estimated by the
square root of the sum of the squares of the two uncertainty con-
tributions (JCGM, 2008). The estimated uncertainty levels for the
results obtained in the present study are indicated in the figures
as vertical bars.
Bubble nose velocity from image analysis
The velocity of the bubble nose was obtained using the dis-
placement of the bubble nose between two consecutive captured
images. Following the expressions given in the work of Polonsky
et al. (1999), the velocity could be estimated by Eq. (1), since the
time interval between the images was known.
1 Ddimages
uB ¼ ð1Þ
c Dt images
22 W.R. de Oliveira et al. / International Journal of Multiphase Flow 69 (2015) 18–30
Fig. 3. Example of images of bubble fronts for liquid superficial velocity jL = 0.2 m/s and gas superficial velocity jG = 0.7 m/s and jL = 0.2 m/s and jG = 1.9 m/s.
where c denotes the calibration factor (for the present work
c = 11 pixels/mm), Ddimages and Dtimages denote, respectively, the
horizontal image displacement extracted from two consecutive
images and the time interval between the images.
Fig. 4 presents a comparison of bubble velocities obtained from
image analysis against those measured with the aid of photo gates.
As can be seen in the figure, both techniques provided the same
results within the expected experimental uncertainty levels. This
good agreement suggests that no bias in the velocities was intro-
duced by the measurement techniques employed.
Bubble interface detection from ensemble-averaged image
The processing of ensemble-averaged images for estimation of
averaged liquid–gas interfaces can be an alternative to the method
based on the processing of instantaneous images, just described. In
the averaged bubble image, the most frequent positions of the
interfaces are reinforced and seen as black shadows. Due to the
random location of dispersed bubbles in the instantaneous images,
the averaging procedure was capable of effectively removing noise
induced by the presence of small bubbles, making the image
processing simpler. The binarization of the averaged image was
performed using a fixed threshold criterion determined by the
minimum value of grey intensity in the column of the image
corresponding to the nose position, which was detected during
pre-processing. Standard, close, open and fill operations were used
to smooth and close the main bubble interface. The processing was
extremely fast, and most of the computational time was spent in
reading the images. The main drawback of this procedure is the
great number of images necessary to remove noise when the
slugs are highly aerated, and the loss of other valuable statistical
features. Fig. 5(a) and (b) present a comparison of mean bubble
nose interfaces obtained from the ensemble average of 400 instan-
taneous bubble interfaces (dashed lines) with the interfaces
Fig. 4. Comparison of bubble nose velocities measured by the photo gates and by
the image processing techniques developed.
obtained from the ensemble-averaged image (dotted line). Cases
with the same gas and liquid velocities as those from Fig. 3(a)
and (b) are respectively analysed in Fig. 5(a) and (b). The bubble
interfaces were shifted by the nose tip position (xB) in order to
have all curves initiated at the same location. As can be seen,
the resulting contours obtained from both methods can be consid-
ered coincident, within the levels of experimental uncertainties
expected and indicated by the vertical bars. It is conceivable that
under different flow conditions the two methodologies may pres-
ent different results. However, it is important to emphasize that
no significant differences were observed for all cases investigated
in the present work. Bubble contours extracted from ensemble-
averaged images are shown only in this section, for a comparative
analysis against the ensemble-averaged contours obtained from
instantaneous images descried before. As already mentioned, the
latter technique was employed to obtain the results that are
presented in the next sections of the present work.
Bubble tail image analysis
The methodology used to process the images of the bubble tail
shares similar steps with the processing adopted for the detection
of interfaces in the bubble nose images. However, due to the
different characteristics of the images, specific steps had to be
employed and the main differences are highlighted in this para-
graph. The images were cropped into a length of 1.4D, as illustrated
in Fig. 6. The cropping length was chosen according to the work of
Fagundes Netto et al. (1999), where the hydraulic jumps presented
lengths from 0.7D to 1.3D. The region upstream from the vertexes
of the hydraulic jump typically displays a quiet liquid layer. There-
fore this region was selected for the detection of the liquid film
thickness (hL), as depicted in Fig. 6.
The vertexes detected in instantaneous interfaces were shifted
to the image origin and a least-squares linear fit procedure through
all points of the interface was employed to determine the angle of
the hydraulic jump. The shifting of the interfaces was implemented
in order to reduce the influence of variations in the instantaneous
film thickness on the estimation of the angle of the hydraulic jump.
As demonstrated for the case of the bubble nose contours, the
detection of the bubble tail characteristics from ensemble-aver-
aged images provided similar results to those obtained from the
methodology based on the ensemble-averaged interface from
instantaneous images described in the above paragraph. However,
results from ensemble-averaged images were not used in the pres-
ent work since they do not yield statistical information about the
interfaces.
Results
Modelling of intermittent two phase flow has been investigated
by many research groups, as can be seen in the review paper of
Fabre and Liné (1992). Valuable databases about the statistics of
plug and slug flows are available in the literature for model valida-
tion, (e.g. Barnea, 1987; Nydal et al., 1992; Spedding and Spence,
1993; Fossa et al., 2003; Woods et al., 2006). However, the results
 W.R. de Oliveira et al. / International Journal of Multiphase Flow 69 (2015) 18–30 23

Fig. 5. Comparison of bubble front contours obtained from ensemble-averaged images and from ensemble-averaged interfaces of instantaneous images for: (a) jL = 0.2 m/s
and jG = 0.7 m/s; (b) jL = 0.2 m/s and jG = 1.9 m/s.

environmental conditions. The validation of the test rig, including

the measurement techniques, was done by comparing the results
obtained with those from the literature.
The range of phase velocities investigated is illustrated in the
map of flow patterns shown in Fig. 7. The reference map was
extracted from the work of Mandhane et al. (1974), which is based
on several experimental results obtained under conditions similar
to those of the present investigation. The same symbol is used to
represent cases that share the same superficial liquid velocity.
The range studied covers the transition from elongated bubble to
slug regime, and it is located between cases of very long slugs,
Fig. 6. Example of image of bubble tail for liquid superficial velocity jL = 0.2 m/s and studied in the work of Kadri et al. (2009), and hydrodynamic slugs,
gas superficial velocity jG = 0.7 m/s.
investigated in Nydal et al. (1992). Although the range covers a gap
existing between these two works, it still enables a comparison
from different research groups are not always in close agreement. with those results.
According to Bendiksen and Malne (1987), the slug initiation can Following the concept of unit cell given by Dukler and Hubbard
be significantly affected by inlet and outlet configurations of test (1976), the slug flow can be seen as a sequence of similar slug
rigs and hence have influence on slug statistics. This effect is more units. At regions close to the onset of slugging, the slug units are
pronounced for short pipes. Therefore, long test rigs are often used
to enable the development of slugs. For instance, the works of
Wang et al. (2007) and Kadri et al. (2009) describe apparatus hav-
ing lengths longer than 2500 pipe diameters. Indeed, long lines
reduce significantly the influence of inlet conditions but, on the
other hand, are associated with higher costs, being their real need
justified only for the investigation of very long slugs. According to
Kadri et al. (2009), this regime occurs for very low gas velocities
that are lower than those covered by the present measurements.
For higher mixture velocities, lines with lengths ranging from
350 to 500D have been used with success. For instance, the work
of Nydal et al. (1992) provided statistical data about developed
slugs using a test rig with a length of 360D.

Preliminary assessment of the test section

In view of the sensitivity of slug development to the inlet con-

ditions, a series of preliminary tests was conducted to assess the
quality of the results obtained from the test rig constructed and
the experimental procedures developed. In particular, these preli-
minary tests were aimed at verifying that no bias was introduced
into the results due to inlet and outlet configurations, and also Fig. 7. Flow regime map indicating the experimental conditions tested. The base
map is extracted from Mandhane et al. (1974). The phase velocities covered in the
due to the curves installed along the test pipe. These curves present work are shown as symbols:: – jL = 0.2 m/s; – jL = 0.3 m/s; –
were installed to extend the pipe length while keeping the whole jL = 0.4 m/s; – jL = 0.5 m/s. Shaded areas correspond to ranges covered in the
set-up inside the available laboratory space with controlled works of Nydal et al. (1992) and Kadri et al. (2009).
24 W.R. de Oliveira et al. / International Journal of Multiphase Flow 69 (2015) 18–30
Fig. 8. Comparison of translational velocities measured at the nose and tail of the
bubble.
under development and may exhibit a different statistical behav-
iour from fully developed ones. According to Nydal et al. (1992)
the existence of fully developed slug flow in pipes is a matter of
definition, as gas expansion due to pressure losses along the pipe
will cause an increase in the mixture velocity. However, they also
mention that after an initial stage of development, the slug units
change slowly along the pipe and mostly depend on the local value
of the gas velocity and gas expansion rather than on the previous
history of the flow. At this stage, the translational velocities of
the front and rear part of the bubble would be similar, as suggested
by Ruder et al. (1989). Therefore, the translational velocities of the
front and the rear parts of the bubble were compared to each other
prior to the statistical analysis of the slug units. The results pre-
sented in Fig. 8 shows that, within the experimental uncertainty
levels, estimated according to the ISO guide for expression of
uncertainties (JCGM, 2008), both velocities were close for most of
the collected points. However, a small systematic difference is
verified in the velocities of the rear part of the bubble that are
slightly lower than the front. This might be related either to the
gas expansion caused by pressure loss along the pipe or to the
growth of the liquid slugs. In order to have a clearer picture about
this behaviour it is necessary to analyse other statistics of the flow.
Fig. 9. Comparison of measured slug length with literature results for long and hydrodynamic slugs. (a) Length of the liquid slugs against the mixture velocity, (b) map of
regimes extracted from the work of Kadri et al. (2009).
The measured mean lengths of the liquid slugs (LS) are depicted
in Fig. 9(a). According to Nydal et al. (1992) and to Kadri et al.
(2009), both liquid and gas superficial velocities can affect the
length of the liquid slugs. Therefore, the mixture velocity was
chosen to scale the data in Fig. 9(a), because it includes both
velocities. For the range of flow velocities covered in the present
experiments, the scaling was fairly good. However, for larger range
of mixture velocities a scattering of the data can occur when using
the mixture velocity to scale the slug lengths. The data indicate a
change from long to short slug lengths for increasingly higher
mixture velocities (jm). For high mixture velocities, experimental
results asymptotically approach the lengths observed in Nydal
et al. (1992). On the other end, for low mixture velocities the mean
slug lengths were closer to those from the work of Kadri et al.
(2009). For slugs under development, the measured lengths would
be considerably shorter than those reported in the literature,
which is not the case here. A comparison between the regimes
measured in the present work with those reported in the work of
Kadri et al. (2009) is shown in Fig. 9(b). The symbols used in
Fig. 9(a) and (b) represent the same cases. A reasonable agreement
is observed with the map given in the work of Kadri et al.
(2009). This suggests that the typical slugs lengths observed at
the measurement station location were of the order of those
reported in the literature. Moreover, for mixture velocities lower
than 1.5 m/s, the results show that small reductions in velocity
may result in a remarkable increase in the length of the liquid
slugs.
The shedding frequency of the slugs is a relevant parameter to
characterize the intermittent flow regime. According to Nydal
et al. (1992), the frequency of non-developed slugs displays a prob-
ability density distribution with two peaks, with one of them hav-
ing a high frequency, which is not typical for slugs at a given flow
rate. This can shift the mean shedding frequency toward higher
frequencies. The present results, depicted in Fig. 10, were com-
pared against an empirical correlation proposed in the work of
Fossa et al. (2003) which was based on several different databases
reported in the literature. The correlation relates the dimensionless
slug frequency, given in terms of a Strouhal number (St = fsD/jG),
with the ratio of superficial liquid to mixture velocities
(kL = jL/jm). Experimental results extracted from the work of Wang
et al. (2007) for a pipe with approximately 2600D were also
included in the figure as a second reference. The good agreement
of the present results with those from literature is an indication
of the presence of developed slugs at the region of measurement,
 W.R. de Oliveira et al. / International Journal of Multiphase Flow 69 (2015) 18–30
Fig. 10. Comparison of measured non-dimensional slug shedding frequencies with
data from the literature.
Fig. 11. Comparison of measured and predicted bubble nose velocity as a function
of mixture Froude numbers.
Fig. 12. Change in bubble nose shape and position with mixture Froude number.
25
and suggests that the curves installed in the test section had no
influence on the slug statistics.
As already noted, the measured translational velocities of the
front and rear part of the slugs, shown in Fig. 8, displayed small
differences, suggesting that the slugs were still under develop-
ment at the streamwise location where the measurements were
carried out. However, the fact that the length and the intermit-
tency of slugs, depicted in Figs. 9 and 10, are in agreement with
those reported in the literature for well-developed slugs, is an
indication that the slugs are developed or nearly close to this
condition.
The preliminary tests conducted were considered satisfactory,
validating the test section constructed and the experimental proce-
dures developed. Results for slug velocity and bubble characteris-
tics will now be presented.
Bubble nose translation velocities
Bubble front translation velocity is an important parameter
for modelling intermittent two-phase flow. It is generally
accepted that the bubble velocity (uB) is a function of the mixture
velocity, jm, and drift velocity, ud (Bendiksen, 1984), as indicated
by Eq. (2),
uB ¼ Cjm þ ud ð2Þ
The coefficient C is, in general, a function of the Reynolds,
Froude, and Etvös numbers (Fabre and Liné, 1992). Several correla-
tions are found in the literature for the bubble velocity in horizon-
tal flows, and there is still not complete agreement with regard to
the contribution of the drift
pffiffiffiffiffiffivelocity for low values of the mixture
velocity, i.e., for jm < 3:5 gD, where g is the gravitational acceler-
ation. Bendiksen (1984) and Woods and Hanratty (1996) recog-
nized the importance of the drift velocity in predicting bubble
velocity, while other authors, as Cook and Behnia (1997) and van
Hout et al. (2002), do not recommend its utilization, proposing that
uB and jm be directly related by uB = 1.2jm Bendiksen (1984),
discusses the change in the coefficient C in Eq. (2), indicating that
its value reflects the competition between inertia and gravitational
forces which determines the radial position of the bubble nose and,
consequently, its velocity. For low values of the Froude number,
gravitational forces dominate and the bubble travels at a position
closer to the upper part of the pipe. For higher values of Froude,
inertia forces dominate and the bubble is pushed toward the pipe
26 W.R. de Oliveira et al. / International Journal of Multiphase Flow 69 (2015) 18–30

uB ¼ 1:2jm ; for Frm > 3:5

pffiffiffiffiffiffi
where Frm ¼ jm = gD Woods and Hanratty (1996) introduced an
intermediate Froude number regime where inertia and gravita-
tional forces are comparable, proposing the following correlations
for bubble velocity,
pffiffiffiffiffiffi
uB ¼ 1:0jm þ 0:542 gD; for Fr m < 2
pffiffiffiffiffiffi
uB ¼ 1:1jm þ 0:542 gD; for 2 < Fr m < 3:5 ð4Þ
uB ¼ 1:2jm ; for Fr m > 3:5
Fig. 11 presents a comparison of bubble velocities measured in
the present study employing the optical techniques implemented,
with the predictions of the correlations presented in Eqs. (3) and
(4). Fig. 11 displays the comparisons of bubble velocities with
the mixture Froude number. For the range of mixture velocities
investigated in the present study, the results of Fig. 11 show that
both correlations approximate reasonably well the bubble velocity
Fig. 13. Measured bubble nose radial positions as a function of the mixture Froude data, with a better agreement observed for Woods and Hanratty
number. (1996). This correlation considers a change in the coefficient C
for an intermediate range of Froude numbers, or mixture velocities.
Also plotted in Fig. 11 is the correlation that does not consider
centerline. Based on these arguments, Bendiksen proposed a the effect of the drift velocity. As can be seen, comparison with
correlation that considers the low and high mixture Froude (Frm) experiments indicates that, for low values of the mixture velocity,
number ranges, the contribution of the drift velocity should not be neglected. In
pffiffiffiffiffiffi addition, the results clearly show the shift in bubble velocity at
uB ¼ 1:05jm þ 0:542 gD; for Frm < 3:5 ð3Þ Froude number equal to 2, as proposed by Woods & Hanratty.

Fig. 14. Measured ensemble-averaged bubble shapes for different mixture velocities.
 W.R. de Oliveira et al. / International Journal of Multiphase Flow 69 (2015) 18–30
Fig. 15. Comparison between measured bubble shapes and prediction by Benjamin’s (1968) inviscid theory for jL = 0.2 m/s and jG = 0.18 m/s (a). Images (b) and (c) are
examples of instantaneous bubbles used to compute the ensemble averaged contour.
Bubble nose radial position
The change in the radial position of the bubble nose tip reflects
the relative importance of gravitational and inertia effects. As the
Froude number increases, inertia effects dominate and the bubble
nose position tends to move to the pipe centerline. Also, the shapes
of the bubbles tend to become narrower as Froude increases, with
an impact on bubble velocity.
Fig. 12 was prepared to demonstrate quantitatively the qualita-
tive observations of the previous paragraph, and that were first
mentioned in Bendiksen’s work. Fig. 12(a) is a reproduction of
Fig. 11 without some of the experimental data in order to avoid
overcrowding the figure. Fig. 12(b) presents bubble nose shapes
corresponding to the same mixture Froude number as those repre-
sented in Fig. 12(a). The symbols plotted on the bubble shapes of
Fig. 12(b) are related to those in Fig. 12(a). The bubble shapes
presented in Fig. 12(b) were obtained by the optical techniques
described previously, with each bubble contour representing an
average of 400 instantaneous bubble contours. A careful observa-
tion on the results displayed in Fig. 12 demonstrate quantitatively
the radial motion of the bubble nose tip toward the centre of the
pipe for increasing values of the mixture Froude number. For the
lowest values of Froude investigated, Frm = 1.28, the bubble nose
tip is located at y ffi 0:75D, while for Froude equal to 2.98, this
position moves downward to y ffi 0:6D. In the reference frame
employed, y = 0D is at the lower wall of the horizontal pipe. Thus,
y = 0.5D is at the pipe centerline.
Fig. 13 displays the bubble nose position (yB) versus mixture
Froude number measured for all tests conducted in the present
work. The ordinate indicates the vertical bubble nose position
measured from the lower pipe surface and made dimensionless
by the pipe diameter. This figure indicates a nearly perfect linear
relationship between bubble nose position and mixture Froude
27
number, for the range of parameters investigated. The results of
Fig. 13 confirm quantitatively, seemingly for the first time, the
qualitative observations of Bendiksen (1984) and Ruder and
Hanratty (1990).
Bubble nose shape
Ensemble-averaged bubble nose shapes obtained in the present
work, as those presented in Fig. 12, allows for an analysis of
the influence of liquid and gas superficial velocities on the bub-
ble shapes. Fig. 14 was prepared to facilitate the analysis. Each
figure corresponds to nose shapes measured for a fixed value of
the mixture velocity. For the lowest value of mixture velocity
studied, jm = 1.2 m/s, the results of Fig. 14(a) indicate that the
bubble shapes are quite similar, having a nose position located at
y=D ffi 0:75. As shown in Fig. 14(b)–(d), for increasingly higher
velocities the bubbles display different shapes for different mixture
velocities, becoming narrower. Narrowest shapes are found in
Fig. 14(d). However, for the same mixture velocity the shapes are
nearly the same in all cases analysed. This observation can be ver-
ified by comparing bubble shapes represented by dashed and dot-
ted lines. As indicated in the figure, similar shapes are observed for
the same mixture velocity, although these mixture velocities were
obtained from different combinations of gas and liquid superficial
velocities.
It is interesting to relate the bubble shapes presented in Fig. 14
with the corresponding points in the flow map of Mandhane
shown in Fig. 7. The fat bubbles of Fig. 14(a) fall in the elongated
bubble regime, while the thinner shapes of (b), (c) and (d) fall in
the slug regime. According to the experimental findings, the nose
shapes are linked to the translational velocities, which are basically
a function of the mixture Froude number (see Eqs. (3) and (4)).
28 W.R. de Oliveira et al. / International Journal of Multiphase Flow 69 (2015) 18–30
Fig. 16. Variation of the liquid film thickness with the liquid volume fraction (kL).
Ruder and Hanratty (1990) and Woods and Hanratty (1996),
observed good agreement between their experiments and the
potential theory of Benjamin (1968), for the elongated bubble
regime. Their conclusions on the agreement between experiments
and theory were based not on full images of the bubble nose, but
on measurements of average liquid film by conductive probes
and on the visual observation of the bubble nose position near
the pipe top surface. The present work provides complete images
Fig. 17. Measured ensemble-averaged hydraulic jumps for different mixture velocities.
of ensemble-averaged bubble noses that allow for a better compar-
ison with Benjamin’s potential theory. Fig. 15 presents this
comparison, where 300 instantaneous images of elongated bubbles
were ensemble averaged for a liquid superficial velocity of 0.2 m/s
and a gas superficial velocity of 0.18 m/s. The bubble shapes pre-
dicted by Benjamin’s theory are overlaid on the average contour
in Fig. 15(a). A low level of agreement can be verified, indicating
that the potential theory does not predict accurately the behaviour
of the bubble, even for this case where the Froude number is equal
to 0.45, which is certainly lower than the Froude numbers where
slug flow regime is expected to prevail. Major differences are found
around the tip of the bubble nose. Fig. 15(b) and (c) represent dif-
ferent samples of instantaneous images obtained under this exper-
imental condition. It can be seen that one of the instantaneous
bubbles is well represented by the shape given by Benjamin’s the-
ory, as depicted in Fig. 15(b). However, shapes like this are a minor
part of the total set of acquired images. Most images are similar to
that of Fig. 15(c), in which bubble contours are rather different
from the theoretical predictions. These results suggest that Benja-
min’s solution might be valid for extremely low mixture velocities,
which in practice do not correspond to slug regimes. Tests at even
lower mixture velocities could not be performed in the present
study since the required flow rates were below the values where
stable conditions could be sustained in the test section available.
Bubble tail shape
The work of Fagundes Netto et al. (1999), pointed out for
changes in the bubble tail during transition from the elongated
 W.R. de Oliveira et al. / International Journal of Multiphase Flow 69 (2015) 18–30
Fig. 18. Comparison of ensemble-averaged hydraulic jumps with the model proposed by Fagundes Netto et al. (1999).
bubble to the slug flow regime. According to their work, a measure
of the bubble tail shape could be used as a criterion for the transi-
tion between those regimes. In the present work, ensemble-
averaged bubble tail shapes were obtained and measured accord-
ing to the procedures described previously in Section ‘Image
processing of bubble nose and tail’. There, the bubble tail shape
was characterized by the angle of the hydraulic jump and the
liquid film thickness, hL.
The analysis of the liquid film thickness has been performed
separately from the analysis of the hydraulic jump, because they
seem to be governed by different parameters of the flow.
The variation in the liquid film thickness with the ratio of the
superficial liquid velocity to the mixture velocity (kL) is presented
in Fig. 16. A linear relationship of the film thickness with kL is
observed. A least squares fit to the data is also plotted in the figure
as a reference. The results suggest that, indeed, the film thickness is
governed by the contribution of the liquid velocity to the total mix-
ture velocity.
Fig. 17 presents shapes of hydraulic jumps for fixed values of
mixture velocities, obtained using the procedures described in
Section ‘Image processing of bubble nose and tail’. The lengths of
the bubbles associated with the hydraulic jumps were not the
same for the various cases shown in this figure. Therefore, the
horizontal positions of the curves representing the tails were
shifted by the vertex position (xR) in order to have all hydraulic
jumps initiated at the same location. Also, the liquid film thickness
was subtracted from the curves in order to facilitate the compari-
son among the angles. As can be seen in Fig. 17, for the range of
mixture velocities investigated, the angles of the hydraulic jumps
for cases with different gas and liquid velocities, but with the same
mixture velocity, are in excellent agreement. In all cases, the small
deviations observed are well within the experimental uncertainty
levels expected for the experiments, giving support to the idea of
the dependency of the shape of hydraulic jumps on the flow mix-
ture velocity. It is interesting also to note a steepening of the angles
for higher mixture velocities. According to Mandhane’s map, the
case with the lowest velocity shown in Fig. 17 falls within the plug
flow regime, while the others fall in the slug flow regime. Fagundes
Netto et al. (1999), suggested that a steepening of the angle of the
hydraulic jump could be associated with a transition from plug to
slug flow regimes. This angle variation was indeed observed in the
experiments but, the differences were within the estimated uncer-
tainty levels, what did not allow the confirmation of their proposi-
tion. Further investigation is necessary to clarify this possibility.
In the work of Fagundes Netto et al. (1999), a one-dimensional
model was proposed for predicting bubble characteristics. The
29
predictions given by the model are compared against the results
of the present study, and are presented in Fig. 18. Due to constrains
in the model, which is not valid for both low liquid velocities and
very high mixture velocities, only cases having liquid velocities
above 0.5 m/s are analyzed. Moreover, the length of the hydraulic
jump in the model is fixed and assumed to be equal to 1D.
Fig. 18(a) and (b) shows good agreement for the angle of the
hydraulic jump and an excellent match for the liquid film thick-
ness. These results suggest that the model proposed by Fagundes
Netto et al. (1999), is potentially capable of predicting the behav-
iour of the bubble tail. However, a more detailed investigation
for a wider range of liquid velocities is necessary.
Conclusions
In the present work digital processing of back-illuminated
bubble images in an intermittent flow regime of air and water in
a horizontal pipe were employed to study the transition from elon-
gated bubble to slug flow regimes. Original quantitative informa-
tion about shapes of the bubble nose and tail could be obtained
by using a set of procedures for image acquisition and processing.
For image acquisition, a set of photo gates was used to measure in
real time the velocity and the properties of the slugs. Based on the
measured velocities, an adaptive delay could be adjusted in real
time to trigger image acquisition with the passage of each bubble.
Thus, hundreds of images from the bubble nose and tail could
be captured and ensemble averaged. The detection of the bubble
shape was performed on the instantaneous images and then
ensemble averaged. An alternative methodology to process the
images, based on ensemble averaged images, was also proposed.
The results were validated against the ensemble averaged inter-
faces. It was observed that within the experimental uncertainty
both results are equivalent. However, the method based on the
ensemble averaged image does not provide statistical information
about the bubble interfaces and therefore it was not used to obtain
the results presented in this work.
The results have shown that bubble translational velocities are
dependent on the mixture Froude number, with rates close to
those suggested by Woods and Hanratty (1996). This has evi-
denced the importance of the contribution of the drift velocity
to the bubble translational velocity for low mixture velocities, as
suggested in Bendiksen (1984).
The radial movement of the bubble nose toward the pipe
centerline as function of the mixture velocity was measured quan-
titatively, seemingly for the first time. The results indicated a linear
30 W.R. de Oliveira et al. / International Journal of Multiphase Flow 69 (2015) 18–30
dependence between bubble nose position and the mixture Froude
number. In addition, the images have shown that, even for low val-
ues of mixture Froude numbers investigated, the inviscid theory of
Benjamin (1968) does not accurately represent the shape of the
bubble, especially at the region adjacent to the bubble nose.
Changes in the shape of the bubble tail at the transition from
elongated bubble to slug flow regimes were also measured. The
liquid film thicknesses were shown to scale linearly with the ratio
of the superficial liquid velocity to the mixture velocity. The angles
of the hydraulic jumps were related mainly to the mixture veloci-
ties. Although a steepening of the angles could be observed for
increasingly higher Froude numbers, the variation of the angles
was within the experimental uncertainty of the measurements.
Therefore, development of a criterion for characterizing the transi-
tion from plug to slug regimes based on the shape of the hydraulic
jump, as suggested previously in the works of Ruder and Hanratty
(1990) and of Fagundes Netto et al. (1999), still requires additional
investigation.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the support awarded to
this research by Petrobras R&D Center. Our gratitude is also
extended to the Brazilian Government agencies CAPES and CNPq
for the scholarships and continued support to our research
activities.
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