A MODEL FOR STATIONARY SLUGS

Studies of stationary slugs were carried out in order to obtain an understanding of the slug regime that exists for ps/liquid flow in a pipeline. A simple model is developed which considers the front to be a hydraulic jump. The liquid height in the tail decreases in two stages: an inviscid rapidly changing flow; and a slowly changing viscous flow. For a fixed liquid height in front of the stationary slug the first stage of the tail is a Benjamin bubble, for which the volumetric flow of the liquid is a minimum value. These results provide support for theoretical arguments used previously to develop necessary conditions for the existence of a slug regime.