Two-fluid model predictions of film dryout in annular flow are limited by the uncertainties in the entrainment rate of droplets from the liquid film. The main cause of these uncertainties is the lack of separate effects experimental data in the range of the operating conditions in industrial applications. Air-water and Freon-113 entrainment rate data have been obtained in 10 mm tubes using the double film extraction technique. These experiments have been scaled to approach high-pressure steam-water flow conditions. The effects of surface tension and density ratio, missing from most previous data sets, have been systematically tested. The entrainment rate mechanism is scaled by the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability at the film surface. Based on this analysis and the new data, a new correlation is proposed that is valid for low-viscosity fluids in small ducts in the ripple-annular regime. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.