Gamma-ray attenuation technique for measuring void fraction in horizontal gas-liquid two-phase flow

The measurement of void fraction is of importance to the oil industry and chemical industry. In this article,the principle and mathematical method of determining the void fraction of horizontal gas-liquid flow by using a single-energy γ-ray system is described. The γ-ray source is the radioactive isotope of 241Am with γ-ray energy of 59.5 keV. The time-averaged value of the void fraction in a 50.0-mm i.d. transparent horizontal pipeline is measured under various combinations of the liquid flow and gas flow. It is found that increasing the gas flow rate at a fixed liquid flow rate would increase the void fraction. Test data are compared with the predictions of the correlations and a good agreement is found. The result shows that the designed γ-ray system can be used for measuring the void fraction in a horizontal gas-liquid two-phase flow with high accuracy.