An Experimental Study on Air-Water Two-Phase Flow Patterns in Pebble Beds

Author(s):  
Bai Bofeng ◽  
Liu Maolong ◽  
Su Wang ◽  
Zhang Xiaojie

An experimental study was conducted on the air-water two-phase flow patterns in the bed of rectangular cross sections containing spheres of regular distribution. Three kinds of glass spheres with different diameters (3 mm, 6 mm, and 8 mm) were used for the establishment of the test section. By means of visual observations of the two-phase flow through the test section, it was discovered that five different flow patterns occurred within the experimental parameter ranges, namely, bubbly flow, bubbly-slug flow, slug flow, slug-annular flow, and annular flow. A correlation for the bubble and slug diameter in the packed beds was proposed, which was an extended expression of the Tung/Dhir model, Jamialahmadi’s model, and Schmidt’s model. Three correlations were proposed to calculate the void friction of the flow pattern transition in bubble flow, slug flow, and annular flow based on the bubble model in the pore region. The experimental result showed that the modified Tung and Dhir model of the flow pattern transition was in better agreement with the experimental data compared with Tung and Dhir’s model.

Author(s):  
Bofeng Bai ◽  
Maolong Liu ◽  
Xiaojie Zhang

An experimental study was conducted on the air-water two-phase flow patterns and pressure drop in the bed of rectangular cross section containing spheres of regular distribution. Three kinds of glass spheres with different diameters (3mm, 6mm and 8mm) were used for the establishment of the test section. By means of visual observations of the two-phase flow through the test section, it was discovered that five different flow patterns occur in the experimental parameter ranges, namely bubbly flow, bubbly-slug flow, slug flow, slug-annular flow and annular flow. A correlation for bubble and slug diameter in packed beds was proposed, which is an extension of the Tung/Dhir model, Jamialahmadi’s model and Schmidt’s model. Three correlations were proposed to calculate the void friction of flow regime transition in bubble flow, slug flow and annular flow based on the bubble model in the pore region. The experimental result shows that the modified Tung and Dhir’s model of flow pattern transition is a better agreement with the experimental data compared with Tung and Dhir’s model.


2019 ◽  
Vol 74 (10) ◽  
pp. 837-848 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yudong Liu ◽  
Dayang Wang ◽  
Yingyu Ren ◽  
Ningde Jin

AbstractDue to the complex flow structure and non-uniform phase distribution in the vertical upward gas-liquid two-phase flow, an eight-electrode rotating electric field conductance sensor is used to obtain multi-channel conductance signals. The flow patterns of the vertical upward gas-liquid two-phase flow are classified according to the images obtained from a high-speed camera. Then, we employ the multivariate weighted multi-scale permutation entropy (MWMPE) to detect the instability of flow pattern transition in the gas-liquid two-phase flow. Afterwards, we compare the results of the MWMPE with those of the single-channel weighted multi-scale permutation entropy (SCWMPE) and multivariate multi-scale sample entropy (MMSE). The comparison results indicate that, compared with the SCWMPE and MMSE, the MWMPE has superior performance in terms of the high-resolution presentation of flow instability in the gas-liquid two-phase flow. Finally, we extract the mean value of the MWMPE in whole scales and the entropy rate of the MWMPE in the small scales. The results indicate that the normalized mean value and normalized entropy rate of MWMPE are very sensitive to the transitions of flow patterns, thus allowing the detection of the instability of flow pattern transition.


Author(s):  
Hideo Ide ◽  
Kentaro Satonaka ◽  
Tohru Fukano

Experiments were performed to obtain, analyze and clarify the mean void fraction, the mean liquid holdup, and the liquid slug velocity and the air-water two-phase flow patterns in horizontal rectangular microchannels, with the dimensions equal to 1.0 mm width × 0.1 mm depth, and 1.0 mm width × 0.2 mm depth, respectively. The flow patterns such as bubble flow, slug flow and annular flow were observed. The microchannel data showed similar data patterns compared to those in minichannels with the width of 1∼10mm and the depth of 1mm which we had previously reported on. However, in a 1.0 × 0.1 mm microchannel, the mean holdup and the base film thickness in annular flow showed larger values because the effects of liquid viscosity and surface tension on the holdup and void fraction dominate. The remarkable flow characteristics of rivulet flow and the flow with a partial dry out of the channel inner wall were observed in slug flow and annular flow patterns in the microchannel of 0.1 mm depth.


Author(s):  
Claudi Marti´n-Callizo ◽  
Bjo¨rn Palm ◽  
Wahib Owhaib ◽  
Rashid Ali

The present work reports on flow boiling visualization of refrigerant R-134a in a vertical circular channel with internal diameter of 1.33 mm and 235 mm in heated length. Quartz tube with a homogeneous ITO-coating is used allowing heating and simultaneous visualization. Flow patterns have been observed along the heated length with the aid of a digital camera with close-up lenses. From the flow boiling visualization, seven distinct two-phase flow patterns have been observed: Isolated bubbly flow, confined bubbly flow, slug flow, churn flow, slug-annular flow, annular flow, and mist flow. Two-phase flow pattern observations are presented in the form of flow pattern maps. Finally, the experimental flow pattern map is compared to models developed for conventional sizes as well as to a microscale map for air-water mixtures available in the literature, showing a large discrepancy.


Author(s):  
H. Yang ◽  
T. S. Zhao ◽  
P. Cheng

Characteristics of gas-liquid two-phase flow patterns in a miniature square cross-section channel having a gas permeable sidewall have been investigated visually using a high-speed motion analyzer. The problem under consideration is encountered in the design of Direct Feed Methanol Fuel Cells (DMFC). The test section was a horizontally oriented rectangular transparent (Lucite material) channel with its lower wall consisting of a porous plate. Liquid was fed into the test section from its entrance, while gas was injected uniformly into the test section along the lower porous sidewall. The visual study shows the typical flow patterns found in the test section include bubbly flow, plug flow, slug flow, and annular flow. However, unlike the conventional co-current two-phase flow in a channel with gas and liquid uniformly entering from one of its ends, for the flow configuration considered in this work, it was found that two or three of the above mentioned flow patterns appeared simultaneously at different locations of the channel. The length of each flow pattern varied with the flow rates of liquid and gas. A distinct feature of annular flow for the present flow configuration is that small bubbles were continuously generated from the porous plate, which grew by blowing up the liquid film, formed a semi-sphere shape, and then ruptured and released gas into the core flow.


2010 ◽  
Vol 132 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudi Martín-Callizo ◽  
Björn Palm ◽  
Wahib Owhaib ◽  
Rashid Ali

The present work reports on flow boiling visualization of refrigerant R-134a in a vertical circular channel with an internal diameter of 1.33 mm and 235 mm in heated length. A quartz tube with a homogeneous Indium Tin Oxide coating is used to allow heating and simultaneous visualization. Flow patterns have been observed along the heated length with the aid of high-speed complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) digital camera. From the flow boiling visualization, seven distinct two-phase flow patterns have been observed: isolated bubbly flow, confined bubbly flow, slug flow, churn flow, slug-annular flow, annular flow, and mist flow. Two-phase flow pattern observations are presented in the form of flow pattern maps. The effects of the saturation temperature and the inlet subcooling degree on the two-phase flow pattern transitions are elucidated. Finally, the experimental flow pattern map is compared with models developed for conventional sizes as well as to a microscale map for air-water mixtures available in literature, showing a large discrepancy.


2013 ◽  
Vol 746 ◽  
pp. 575-580
Author(s):  
Xue Min Liu ◽  
Zhou Hang Li ◽  
Yu Xin Wu ◽  
Jun Fu Lu

Aiming at the diameter range of boiler water wall tubes in practical engineering application, the air-water two phase flow pattern in horizontal tube was experimentally investigated in tubes with different inner diameters of 20mm and 8 mm under atmosphere condition. The stratified flow, wave flow, plug flow, slug flow, annular flow, bubbly flow and mist flow were observed in the tubes. Most of the experimental points agree well with the Baker flow pattern map when they appear in the map. With the experimental results, the range lines between the flow patterns were suggested for the tube of 20mm in inner diameter as well as 8mm. As the water superficial velocity increases, the annular flow transforms into mist flow at a decreasing air superficial velocity. The two phase flow patterns transition line is similar in tendency for different tubes. The slug flow transforms into annular flow at an increasing air superficial velocity as tube diameter decreases. The stratified flow transforms into slug flow at an increasing water superficial velocity as tube diameter decreases. The transition line between plug flow and slug flow is independent of tube diameter.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faraj Ben Rajeb ◽  
Syed Imtiaz ◽  
Yan Zhang ◽  
Amer Aborig ◽  
Mohamed M. Awad ◽  
...  

Abstract Slug flow is one of the most common flow patterns in non-Newtonian two-phase flow in pipes. It is a very common occurrence in gas-liquid two-phase flow in the pipe. Usually, it is an unfavorable flow pattern due to its unsteady nature, intermittency as well as high pressure drop. The differences between slug flow and elongated bubble flow are not clear because usually these two types of flow combined under one flow category. In general, these two-phase flow regimes are commonly defined as intermittent flow. In the present study, pressure gradient, and wave behavior in slug flow have been investigated depending on experimental work. In addition, void fraction has been estimated regarding available superficial liquid and gas velocities. The experimental records of superficial velocities of gas and liquid for slug flow and other flow patterns is used to create flow regime map for the gas non-Newtonian flow system. The effect of investigated flow regime velocities for non-Newtonian/gas flow on pressure drop and void fraction is reported. Pressure drop has been discovered to be reduced in slug flow more than other flow patterns due to high shear thinning behavior.


Author(s):  
C. Tan ◽  
W. L. Liu ◽  
F. Dong

Understanding of flow patterns and their transitions is significant to uncover the flow mechanics of two-phase flow. The local phase distribution and its fluctuations contain rich information regarding the flow structures. A wire-mesh sensor (WMS) was used to study the local phase fluctuations of horizontal gas–liquid two-phase flow, which was verified through comparing the reconstructed three-dimensional flow structure with photographs taken during the experiments. Each crossing point of the WMS is treated as a node, so the measurement on each node is the phase fraction in this local area. An undirected and unweighted flow pattern network was established based on connections that are formed by cross-correlating the time series of each node under different flow patterns. The structure of the flow pattern network reveals the relationship of the phase fluctuations at each node during flow pattern transition, which is then quantified by introducing the topological index of the complex network. The proposed analysis method using the WMS not only provides three-dimensional visualizations of the gas–liquid two-phase flow, but is also a thorough analysis for the structure of flow patterns and the characteristics of flow pattern transition. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Supersensing through industrial process tomography’.


Author(s):  
Aritra Sur ◽  
Dong Liu

Gas-liquid two-phase flow in microchannels with hydraulic diameters of 100–500 μm exhibits drastically different flow behaviors from its counterpart in conventional macroscopic channels. Two particular issues are how to determine the two-phase flow patterns and how to predict the two-phase pressure drop at given flow conditions in these microchannels. This paper presents an experimental study of adiabatic two-phase flow of air-water mixture in circular microchannels with inner diameters of 100, 180 and 324 μm, respectively, to investigate the effects of channel size and phase velocity on the two-phase flow pattern and pressure drop. The air and water superficial velocities were in the range of 0.01–120 m/s and 0.005–5 m/s. Two-phase flow patterns were visualized using highspeed photographic technique. Four basic flow patterns, namely, bubbly flow, slug flow, ring flow and annular flow, were observed. The two-phase flow maps were then constructed and the transition boundaries between different flow regimes were identified. It was found that the slug flow is the dominant two-phase flow pattern in microchannels, and the transition boundaries generally shift to regions of higher gas superficial velocities as the channel dimension decreases. The experimental measurements of two-phase pressure drop were compared to the predictions from the available two-phase models in the literature. Results show that the flow pattern-based models provide the best prediction of two-phase pressure drop in microchannels.


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