The experimental medium are compressed air, water and medical stone ceramic particles in this paper. The gas-liquid two-phase flow pattern and the gas-liquid-solid three-phase flow pattern in the air-lift pipe were visualized analyzed and identified by high-speed camera technology. The results of experiment show that the high-speed camera technology can effectively identify the flow pattern. It is observed that there are four kinds of flow patterns in gas-liquid two-phase flow: bubble flow, slug flow, churn flow and annular flow. Base on the flow pattern characteristics of gas-liquid two-phase flow, the gas - liquid - solid three-phase flow pattern can be divided into five flow patterns: slug- spiral flow, vortical-spiral flow, wave flow, coalesced churn flow, and annular column flow. In addition, the mechanism of the transition between the flow pattern is discussed.