Experiments on Start-Up of an Oil-Water Core Annular Flow Through a Horizontal or Nearly Horizontal Pipe

In this paper we propose some experimental results on the start-up of a core annular flow from a stratified condition. During normal core annular flow operations, due to fouling or pump failures, a core flow may not be sustained anymore and hence it stratifies. Since the pressure drops connected to the stratified flow regime are much larger than the ones of core annular, the flow suddenly stops. In this paper, we look at the start-up procedure, with a particular emphasis on the pressure drops evolution.