Open Access

ARTICLE

Signal-Based Identification of the Critical Liquid-Loading Condition in Gas–Liquid Two-Phase Flow

Yang Cheng^*, Dajiang Wang, Zhiyang Sun

Jianghan Oilfield Petroleum Engineering Technology Research Institute, Wuhan, China

* Corresponding Author: Yang Cheng. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Theoretical Foundations and Applications of Multiphase Flow in Pipeline Engineering)

Fluid Dynamics & Materials Processing 2026, 22(3), 6 https://doi.org/10.32604/fdmp.2026.077747

Received 16 December 2025; Accepted 04 March 2026; Issue published 31 March 2026

Abstract

Accurate diagnosis of liquid loading in gas wells is hindered by inconsistent criteria for identifying the critical liquid-loading condition and by reliance on subjective observation during the development of physical models. To address this issue, controlled laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate pressure fluctuations in gas–liquid two-phase flow under different flow regimes, with the aim of establishing a quantitative criterion to identify such critical conditions. High-frequency pressure signals were collected and analyzed using complementary ensemble empirical mode decomposition (CEEMD). Characteristic parameters describing slug flow, annular flow, and the critical liquid-loading condition were extracted accordingly, including signal variance, intrinsic mode function energy entropy, and kurtosis. The results demonstrate that the critical liquid-loading state exhibits distinctive pressure fluctuation features compared with slug and annular flow regimes. Evidence is provided that, by integrating statistical indicators with fractal-based analysis, the proposed method enables reliable identification of the critical liquid-loading condition.

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Keywords

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