Gas-water stratified flow patterns from electromagnetic tomography

Because of gravitational differentiation of multi-phase fluids, gas-water flow is usually stratified in highly inclined or horizontal gas wells. By using electrode arrays to scan flowing fluids, electromagnetic tomography can identify the flow patterns of mixed fluid from the different electrical properties of gas and water. The responses for different gas-water interface locations were calculated and then physical measurements were undertaken. We compared the results of the numerical simulation with the experimental data, and found that the response characteristics were consistent in the circumstances of uniform physical fields and stratified flows. By analyzing the signal characteristics, it is found that, with the change of the interface location, the response curves showed "steps" whose position and width were decided by the location of fluid interface. The measurement accuracy of this method depended on the vertical distance between adjacent electrodes. The results showed that computer simulation can simulate the measurement of the electromagnetic tomography accurately, so the physical experiment can be replaced.