A Practical Approach to Predict Velocity Profiles and Shape Factors in Horizontal and Slightly Inclined Wavy Stratified Liquid-Liquid Pipe Flow

The complexity of liquid-liquid flow often limits rigorous numerical modeling in practice. Among the challenges are the prediction of velocity profiles, and values of the shape factors, which are used in flow-pattern transition models. We propose experimental correlations for the velocity profiles as functions of the phases’ Reynolds numbers based on a Couette-Poiseuille velocity profile and the classical separate cylinder model. The velocity profiles are validated against literature and new experimental data obtained via PIV. Although simple, the proposed model can be of value for engineers and developers of numerical simulation codes.