Abstract

Liquid slugs have a relatively low mass and can therefore — when they occupy a full cross-section of a pipeline — be accelerated to very high velocities by means of pressurized gas. When entrapped gas pockets are present, pressures and temperatures may become dangerously high. Simple models and analytical solutions are derived and used to predict transient velocities, pressures and temperatures. The models have a generic character as they also describe the basics of breaking surface waves impacting on a wall, and pigs and bullets propelled by compressed gas.