CFD and artificial neural network modeling of two-phase flow pressure drop

A large number of experiments in a 2 cm diameter and 6 m length tube were carried out in order to study the two-phase flow regimes and pressure drops in it. The two-phase flow in the experimental tube was modeled using commercial CFD code, Fluent 6.2. An Artificial Neural Network (ANN) with three inputs including gas and liquid velocities and tube slope was designed and trained to predict average pressure drop across the tube. The comparison between CFD and ANN predictions of pressure drops with experimental measurements shows that the CFD results are more accurate than the ANN evaluations for new conditions.