Understanding the mechanism of droplet entrainment is of great importance for the churn flow. So far, the droplet entrainment mechanism has been experimentally studied; however, no detailed model is available for this particular flow pattern. To address this, the author established an analytical model to better understand the drop entrainment in churn flow. In this model, only the entrainment mechanism named shear-off in equilibrium state is considered and detailed analysis performed for the interface stability based on the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability and force balance acting on the wave crest. The model has been verified using experimental data and different parameters (e g, pipe diameter, gas and liquid flowrate and pressure) influencing the entrainment is presented. The author proposed a more accurate and reasonable formula for the entrained rate in churn flow based on the existing formula for annular flow. The model developed in this paper predicts the entrainment mechanism under churn flow condition to an accuracy of 30% which is essential for the development of mechanistic models to predict the dryout condition in the future. Crown Copyright (C) 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved,