The occurrence of slug regime in horizontal pipelines is of special interest for the oil and gas industry due to the unwanted operational risks associated with this flow. Hence, an intense effort has been devoted to the study and to model this flow regime. Predictive tools based on linear Kelvin-Helmhotz stability have been widely applied in the literature for prediction of slug onset. These models are derived from stability analysis of well-defined disturbances. However, for pipe flows, a limited number of experimental studies devoted to investigate the evolution of disturbances that lead to the initiation of slugs is available. In addition, no studies are found using of well define disturbances, which could provide accurate information for validation of models and numerical simulations. The present work addresses the problem by the studying of the evolution of controlled waves excited at the liquid interface. To this end, an oscillating paddle was employed. The work focuses the characterization of interfacial waves within the linear regime, which correspond to the regime of most models available in the literature. The amplitude threshold for linear waves was experimentally estimated. The driving signal of the oscillating paddle was synchronized with image acquisitions, enabling phase locked measurements of the waves and hence the use of ensemble averaging techniques. Phase-locked measurements of the velocity field in the liquid and gas layers were performed using off-axis Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) technique and Shadowgraph. Mean flow, streamwise and wall normal fluctuations were measured simultaneously in the liquid and gas phases. For a range of flow rates and exciting wave frequencies the combined techniques employed allowed the extraction from the measured velocity fields, the coherent part of flow fluctuations related with the exciting waves. The results obtained have shown, seemingly, for the first time, that interfacial modes in both phases are nearly independent of near wall disturbances within the range of parameters covered in this work. Characterization of nonlinear waves was briefly investigated indicating changes in the mean velocity. Moreover, a correlation for wave friction factor based on wave and flow parameters was obtained, leading to an improvement on the liquid heightand pipe head loss estimation when are combined into the closure relations used for the 1-D models. The experimental methodology proposed in this work is a valuable tool to produce accurate information that can be used to validate and improve theoretical models and numerical simulations. It can contribute to the understanding of the physical mechanisms involved in the transition from stratified to slug flows.