Gas-liquid unified modeling can be considered a mature topic.  Current efforts are focused on closure relationship development and computer code improvements.  A new effort on a unified model for oil-water flow was recently initiated.  The main objective of the oil-water study is to develop an oil water model which can predict pressure drop, water fraction and flow pattern from horizontal to vertical flow.  During fall 2015, the development of a new three-phase flow code will be initiated.  The code will be based on the unified model philosophy and important improvements with respect to closure relationships are expected.  The development of the steady-state database will be an important component to validate and corroborate the proposed model modifications in a wide range of conditions.  Additionally, an extended database for field conditions can help to determine the most adequate closure relationship for a given condition.

Also, the concept of energy dissipation will be further explored as an alternative to the unified model philosophy.  This principle postulates that a system stabilizes to its minimum total energy loss.  Application of this concept has been found in thermodynamics and simulation of the flow in river systems (open channel flow).  Moreover, the concept has recently been applied in the prediction of two-phase flow splitting in parallel pipes.  The first successful application of the concept in two-phase flow in pipes was demonstrated by Lee et al. (2013) for stratified gas-liquid flow.  The ultimate objective of this activity is to develop a model that will be able to predict flow pattern, liquid holdup and pressure drop without the use of some low confidence closure relationships which are implemented in the actual mechanistic models.  This new philosophy can allow the next generation of mechanistic models, which will be less dependent on closure relationship, increasing the scalability of the models.

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