Case Study 2013. Steam flowmeter development and qualification

Smart Fibres together with TNO and has developed a fibre optic based Vortex Shedding flow meter, which is specifically designed to also estimate the amount of liquid present in a two-phase flow. This property of the flow meter makes it very suitable for use in steam-based oil recovery applications. This paper describes wet-gas tests performed on Shell’s multi-phase flow loop (DONAU) with low-pressure air and water, and tests performed at AREVA’s High-Pressure High-Temperature test facility (BENSON), a specialised steam test facility of which there are only a few available worldwide.

The goal of these tests was to confirm the ability of the flow meter to accurately measure gas (volume) flow in wet-gas and wet-steam conditions.