Experimental investigation of the slug flow operation characteristics

The pigging operation in oil and gas pipeline is widely met in practice. An investigation of the characteristics of pressure, differential pressure and gas-liquid flowrate in slug flow during pigging operation was carried out in an outdoor test rig. Air and water were used as the working fluids and the response to the pigging operation was measured by using a series of pressure transducers and differential pressure transducers. According to the experimental results, the moving velocity and pressure drop of pig was analyzed, and the special phenomena during pigging operation were explained reasonably.