The two-phase gas/liquid flow phenomenon can be encountered over a range of gas and liquid flow rates in the chemical engineering industry, particularly in oil and gas production transportation pipelines. Monitoring and measurement of their characteristics, such as the gas void fraction, are necessary to minimise the disruption of downstream process facilities. Thus, over the last decade, the investigation, development and use of multiphase flow metering system have been a major focus for the industry worldwide. However, these meters suffer from several limitations in some flow conditions such as Slug flow regime. This research presents experimental results correlating Acoustic Emission measurements with Gas Void Fraction (GVF) in a two-phase air / water flow. A unique experimental facility was modified to accommodate an investigation into the applicability of the Acoustic Emission (AE) technology in monitoring two-phase gas\liquid flow. The testing facility allowed for investigations over a range of superficial liquid velocities (0.3 to 2.0 ms-1) and superficial gas velocities (0.2 to 1.4 ms-1). The influence of several variables such as temperature, viscosity and surface roughness were also investigated. Measurements of AE for varying gas void fractions were compared to conductive probe measurements and results showed a direct correlation between the AE energy and the gas void fraction. It is concluded that the GVF can be determined by measurement of Acoustic Emission and this forms the major contribution of this thesis.

The two-phase gas/liquid flow phenomenon can be encountered over a range of gas and liquid flow rates in the chemical engineering industry, particularly in oil and gas production transportation pipelines. Monitoring and measurement of their characteristics, such as the gas void fraction, are necessary to minimise the disruption of downstream process facilities. Thus, over the last decade, the investigation, development and use of multiphase flow metering system have been a major focus for the industry worldwide. However, these meters suffer from several limitations in some flow conditions such as Slug flow regime. This research presents experimental results correlating Acoustic Emission measurements with Gas Void Fraction (GVF) in a two-phase air / water flow. A unique experimental facility was modified to accommodate an investigation into the applicability of the Acoustic Emission (AE) technology in monitoring two-phase gas\liquid flow. The testing facility allowed for investigations over a range of superficial liquid velocities (0.3 to 2.0 ms-1) and superficial gas velocities (0.2 to 1.4 ms-1). The influence of several variables such as temperature, viscosity and surface roughness were also investigated. Measurements of AE for varying gas void fractions were compared to conductive probe measurements and results showed a direct correlation between the AE energy and the gas void fraction. It is concluded that the GVF can be determined by measurement of Acoustic Emission and this forms the major contribution of this thesis.