Phase inversion refers to the phenomenon whereby a small change in operational. flow conditions causes an oil-in-water dispersed flow pattern to suddenly switch to a water-in-oil flow pattern, and viceversa. This paper proposes an interpretation of phase inversion in terms of minimal dissipation rate. To this end, the dissipation rate is computed by a simple homogeneous model together with available correlations for effective viscosity in dispersed flows. It is shown that the data available in the literature can be reasonably interpreted as a manifestation of minimal dissipation rate. Furthermore, if the assumed effective viscosity correlations take into account pipe wettability, the minimal dissipation rate approach is capable to interpret also the so-called ambivalent range (hysteresis effect) and correlate the available data. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.