Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Gravity-Driven Pipe Flow With Cavitation

Author(s):  
Tobias Giese ◽  
Eckart Laurien ◽  
Wolfgang Schwarz

Gravity driven pipe flows contain no risk of pump failure and are considered to be reliable even under accident conditions. However, accurate prediction methods are only available for single phase flow. In case of the occurrence of two-phase flow (caused e.g. by boiling or cavitation), a considerable reduction in mass flux can be observed. In this study, an experimental and numerical investigation of gravity driven two-phase pipe flow was performed in order to understand and model such flows. An experiment was conducted to analyse gravity driven flow of water near saturation temperature in a complex pipe consisting of several vertical and horizontal sections. The diameter was 100 mm with a driving height of 13 m between an elevated tank and the pipe outlet. The experiment shows that cavitation leads to formation of steam. The two-phase character of the flow causes a significant reduction of mass flux in comparison to a single phase flow case. The experimental flow rate was reproduced by one dimensional single and two phase flow analysis based on standard one dimensional methods including models for steam formation. The main part of this study consists of a three dimensional CFD analysis of the two phase flow. A three dimensional model for cavitation and recondensation phenomena based on thermal transport processes was developed, implemented and validated against our experimental data. Due to the fact that beside bubbly flow, also the stratified and droplet flow regimes occur, a new approach to model phase interaction terms of the Two-Fluid Model for mass, momentum and energy is presented. Thereby, the transition from one flow regime to another is taken into account. The experimental mass flow rate can be predicted with an accuracy of 10%. The three dimensional analysis of the flow situation demonstrates the influence of pipe elements such as horizontal and vertical sections, bends and valves of the pipe on the mass flux and the steam distribution. The analysis of secondary flows in bends emphases their importance for the steam distribution within the pipe, for the pressure loss and the average mass flux.

Author(s):  
Suizheng Qiu ◽  
Minoru Takahashi ◽  
Guanghui Su ◽  
Dounan Jia

Water single-phase and nucleate boiling heat transfer were experimentally investigated in vertical annuli with narrow gaps. The experimental data about water single-phase flow and boiling two-phase flow heat transfer in narrow annular channel were accumulated by two test sections with the narrow gaps of 1.0mm and 1.5mm. Empirical correlations to predict the heat transfer of the single-phase flow and boiling two-phase flow in the narrow annular channel were obtained, which were arranged in the forms of the Dittus-Boelter for heat transfer coefficients in a single-phase flow and the Jens-Lottes formula for a boiling two-phase flow in normal tubes, respectively. The mechanism of the difference between the normal channel and narrow annular channel were also explored. From experimental results, it was found that the turbulent heat transfer coefficients in narrow gaps are nearly the same to the normal channel in the experimental range, and the transition Reynolds number from a laminar flow to a turbulent flow in narrow annuli was much lower than that in normal channel, whereas the boiling heat transfer in narrow annular gap was greatly enhanced compared with the normal channel.


Author(s):  
Toshimichi Arai ◽  
Naoki Kudo ◽  
Tsuneaki Ishima ◽  
Ismail M. Youssef ◽  
Tomio Obokata ◽  
...  

Characteristics on particle motion in a liquid-solid two-phase jet flow were studied in the paper. The water jet including glass particle of 389 μm in mean diameter was injected into water bath. The experimental conditions were 0.21% of initial particle volume ratio, 5mm in pipe diameter and 1.84 m/s of mean velocity on outlet of the jet. A laser Doppler anemometer (LDA) with size discrimination was applied for measuring the time serious velocities of the single-phase flow, particle and water phase flow. A particle image velocimetry (PIV) was also applied in the two-phase flow. The normal PIV method can hardly measure the particle size and perform the particle size discrimination. In the experiment, using the gray scales related with the scattering light intensity, measuring method with size discrimination in two-phase flow was carried out. The experimental results show less difference between velocities of single-phase flow and water-phase flow under this low particle volume ratio condition. Particles have the relative motion with the water-phase and large rms velocity. The PIV used in this experiment, which is called multi-intensity-layer-PIV: MILP, can measure water-phase velocity with good accuracy.


Author(s):  
Jiang Nai-bin ◽  
Gao Li-xia ◽  
Huang Xuan ◽  
Zang Feng-gang ◽  
Xiong Fu-rui

In steam generators and other heat exchangers, there are a lot of tube bundles subjected to two-phase cross-flow. The fluctuating pressure on tube bundle caused by turbulence can induce structural vibration. The experimental data from a U-tube bundle of steam generator in air-water flow loop are analyzed in this work. The different upper bounds of buffeting force are used to calculate the turbulence buffeting response of U-tubes, and the calculation results are compared with the experimental results. The upper bounds of buffeting force include one upper bound based on single-phase flow, and two upper bounds based on two-phase flow. It is shown that the upper bound based on single-phase flow seriously underestimated the turbulence excitation, the calculated vibration response is much less than the experimental measurement. On the other hand, the vibration response results calculated with the upper bounds based on two-phase flow are closer to the measured results under most circumstances.


1999 ◽  
Vol 121 (3) ◽  
pp. 646-652 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. S. Zhao ◽  
Q. Liao ◽  
P. Cheng

This paper presents an experimental study of a buoyancy-induced flow of water with phase-change heat transfer in a vertical porous tube heated at a constant heat flux. Experiments were carried out from subcooled liquid flow to connective boiling by varying the imposed heat fluxes. At a prescribed heat flux the steady-state mass flux of water, as well as the temperatures along the tube wall and along the centerline of the packed tube, were measured. It is shown that for both single-phase flow and the two-phase flow with a rather low vapor fraction, the induced mass flux increased as the heat flux was increased. However, as the imposed heat flux was increased further, the induced mass flux dropped drastically, and remained relatively constant afterwards. The influences of various parameters such as the porous tube diameter, the particle sizes, and the hydrostatic head on the induced mass flux are also examined.


Author(s):  
Olivier Brunin ◽  
Geoffrey Deotto ◽  
Franck David ◽  
Joe¨l Pillet ◽  
Gilles Dague ◽  
...  

After a period of several years of operation, steam generators can be affected by fouling and clogging. Fouling means that deposits of sludge accumulate on tubes or tube support plates (TSP). That results in a reduction of heat exchange capabilities and can be modelled by means of a fouling factor. Clogging is a reduction of flow free area due to an accumulation of sludge in the space between TSP and tubes. The increase of the clogging ratio results in an increase of the overall TSP pressure loss coefficient. The link between the clogging ratio and the overall TSP pressure loss coefficient is the most important aspect of our capability to accurately calculate the thermal-hydraulics of clogged steam generators. The aim of the paper is to detail the experimental approach chosen by EDF and AREVA NP to address the calculation uncertainties. The calculation method is classically based on the computation of a single-phase (liquid-only) pressure loss coefficient, which is multiplied by a two-phase flow factor. Both parameters are well documented and can be derived on the basis of state of the art methods such as IDEL’CIK diagrams and CHISHOLM formula. The experimental approach consists of a validation of the correlations by performing tests on a mock-up section with an upward flow throughout a vertical array of tubes. A mixture of water and vapour refrigerant R116 is used to represent two-phase flows. The tube bundle is composed of a 25 tubes array in a square arrangement. The overall height of the mock-up is 2 m. Eight test TSPs were manufactured, considering eight different clogging configurations: six plates with a typical clogging profile at six clogging ratios (0, 44%, 58%, 72%, 86%, 95%), and two plates with a clogging ratio of 72% associated with two different clogging profiles (large bending radius profile and rectangular profile). A series of tests were performed in 2009 in single-phase flow conditions. Two-phase flow tests with a mixture of liquid water and vapour refrigerant R116 will be performed in 2010. The paper illustrates the main results obtained during the single-phase tests performed in 2009.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 2020
Author(s):  
Thinh Quy Duc Pham ◽  
Jichan Jeon ◽  
Daeseong Jo ◽  
Sanghun Choi

This study aims to investigate the pressure changes, bubble dynamics, and flow physics inside the U- and C-shaped pipes with four different gravitational directions. The simulation is performed using a 1D centerline-based mesh generation technique along with a two-fluid model in the open-source software, OpenFOAM v.6. The continuity and momentum equations of the two-fluid model are discretized using the pressure-implicit method for the pressure-linked equation algorithm. The static and hydrostatic pressures in the two-phase flow were consistent with those of single-phase flow. The dynamic pressure in the two-phase flow was strongly influenced by the effect of the buoyancy force. In particular, if the direction of buoyancy force is the same as the flow direction, the dynamic pressure of the air phase increases, and that of the water phase decreases to satisfy the law of conservation of mass. Dean flows are observed on the transverse plane of the curve regions in both C-shaped and U-shaped pipes. The turbulent kinetic energy is stronger in a two-phase flow than in a single-phase flow. Using the 1D centerline-based mesh generation technique, we demonstrate the changes in pressure and the turbulent kinetic energy of the single- and two-phase flows, which could be observed in curve pipes.


Author(s):  
Rinaldo Antonio de Melo Vieira ◽  
Artur Posenato Garcia

One-dimensional single-phase flow has only one characteristic velocity, which is the area-averaged velocity. On the other hand, one-dimensional two-phase flow has several characteristics velocities, such as center of volume mixture velocity and center of mass mixture velocity. Under slip condition, usually they are quite different. In a simple way, one may think that the petroleum correlations and the drift-flux model are an attempt to “adapt” the single-phase momentum equation for a mixture of more than one phase, where the several parameters in the single-phase equation are replaced by average-mixture ones. These two models use different considerations for this “adaptation”. For instance, for friction loss calculation, petroleum correlations use the mixture volume velocity while drift-flux models use the mixture mass velocity. Normally, the volume velocity is higher than the mass velocity, and petroleum correlations may calculate friction gradients higher than the ones obtained by drift-flux models. This is very important, especially for horizontal and slightly inclined upward flows, where the friction pressure gradient is dominant. This work compares the pressure gradient evaluated by these two models for horizontal and slightly inclined upward flowlines using available data found in literature. The comparison shows that, depending on the situation, one model gives better results than the other. Based on the results, a new approach for two-phase flow friction calculation is proposed. The new model represents a combination of the approach used by the Petroleum Correlations and the Drift-Flux Model, using different characteristic velocities (volume, mass and a new one defined by the authors). The new model is very simple to implement and shows good agreement with the tested data.


2009 ◽  
Vol 131 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Cavallini ◽  
Davide Del Col ◽  
Marko Matkovic ◽  
Luisa Rossetto

Condensation in minichannels is widely used in air-cooled condensers for the automotive and air-conditioning industry, heat pipes, and compact heat exchangers. The knowledge of pressure drops in such small channels is important in order to optimize heat transfer surfaces. Most of the available experimental work refers to measurements obtained within multiport smooth extruded tubes and deal with the average values over the number of parallel channels. In this context, the present authors have set up a new test apparatus for heat transfer and fluid flow studies in single minichannels. This paper presents new experimental frictional pressure gradient data, relative to single-phase flow and adiabatic two-phase flow of R134a and R32 inside a single horizontal minitube, with a 0.96 mm inner diameter and with not-negligible surface roughness. The new all-liquid and all-vapor data are successfully compared against predictions of single-phase flow models. Also the two-phase flow data are compared against a model previously developed by the present authors for adiabatic flow or flow during condensation of halogenated refrigerants inside smooth minichannels. Surface roughness effects on the liquid-vapor flow are discussed. In this respect, the friction factor in the proposed model is modified, in order to take into consideration also effects due to wall roughness.


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