A Study of Multiphase Flow Imaging Using Ultrasonic Tomography

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the multiphase flow regime in the pipelines using ultrasonic tomography technique. Multiphase flow occurs when two or more phases are flows along a closed or open pipe. The phases involved in this study are solid, liquid and gas flow which combination of these materials was tested in vertical condition. Ultrasonic tomography technique was use to solve this problem and the transmission mode was implemented. In the tomography system, number of projection will contribute to the image reconstruction result. Hence, more projection data captured tends to enhance the tomogram. In order to overcome this issue, 16 ultrasonic transceivers were used rather than separated transmitter receiver technique. This 16 transceiver will generate data equals to 32 separate transmitter-receiver sensor. It means that by using transceivers more data can be obtained because more space can be saved. Non invasive sensor arrangements applied to this system and supported with electronic measurement circuits and a data acquisition system, data for image reconstruction were generated. At the image reconstruction part, 'Linear Back Projection' (LBP) algorithm has been applied. The results obtained are useful for the monitoring of multiphase flow.