Characterisation of Air-Water Two-Phase Flow Using a Wire-Mesh Sensor

Author(s):  
Carlos E. F. do Amaral ◽  
O´liver B. S. Scorsim ◽  
Eduardo N. Santos ◽  
Marco Jose´ da Silva ◽  
Marco Germano Conte ◽  
...  

Two phase flow occurs in many industrial applications, mainly in the transport of mixtures. Many patterns can be produced according to the liquid and gas flow rates. The identification of these patterns is very important in the design of piping systems and equipments. This work proposes an experimental study to identify multiphase flow patterns of water and air in horizontal pipes. The study was developed using an experimental circuit of 26 mm diameter and 9.2 m length pipe, at Thermal Sciences Lab (LACIT) at the Federal University of Technology - Parana´. To characterize the flow patterns, an intrusive mesh electrodes sensor was used, which allows the detailed visualization of the phases distribution. Tests were made using several experimental settings of water and gas flow rates. Measurements were compared to images obtained by high speed camera and the temporal void fraction series which were analyzed with the use of PDF and PSD functions, showing the singularities for each two-phase flow pattern.

2021 ◽  
Vol 71 (12) ◽  
pp. 18-33
Author(s):  
Lokman A. Abdulkareem ◽  
Veyan A. Musa ◽  
Raid A. Mahmood ◽  
Ezideen A. Hasso

The air-water two-phase flow plays an important role in many applications of industry fields. Usually, a 90-degree bend is used to connect pipes for changing the direction of flow which influences the two-phase flow pattern. In this paper, the effect of 90-degree bend under different ranges of gas and liquid superficial velocities on the two-phase flow patterns in the horizontal pipe located after the bend was experimentally investigated, and then results were presented and compared in a two-phase flow pattern map. Also, tomographic images and probability density functions were used to capture the cross-section void fraction and its distribution for the two-phase flow patterns. The results revealed that at low liquid and gas flow rates, a stratified-wavy flow pattern was observed as a dominant flow pattern. While the wavy-annular and semiannular flow patterns were observed at a high range of gas flow rates in the horizontal pipe. The results also showed that at the high range of liquid flow rate, bubbly, plug, slug, stratified-wavy, and wavy-annular flow patterns were observed in the horizontal pipe when the gas flow increased. The tomographic images and probability density functions gave good agreement with the experimental observations and results.


Author(s):  
Jacqueline Barber ◽  
Khellil Sefiane ◽  
David Brutin ◽  
Lounes Tadrist

Boiling in microchannels remains elusive due to the lack of full understanding of the mechanisms involved. A powerful tool in achieving better comprehension of the mechanisms is detailed imaging and analysis of the two phase flow at a fundamental level. We induced boiling in a single microchannel geometry (hydraulic diameter 727 μm), using a refrigerant FC-72, to investigate several flow patterns. A transparent, metallic, conductive deposit has been developed on the exterior of rectangular microchannels, allowing simultaneous uniform heating and visualisation to be conducted. The data presented in this paper is for a particular case with a uniform heat flux of 4.26 kW/m2 applied to the microchannel and inlet liquid mass flowrate, held constant at 1.33×10−5 kg/s. In conjunction with obtaining high-speed images and videos, sensitive pressure sensors are used to record the pressure drop profiles across the microchannel over time. Bubble nucleation, growth and coalescence, as well as periodic slug flow, are observed in the test section. Phenomena are noted, such as the aspect ratio and Reynolds number of a vapour bubble, which are in turn correlated to the associated pressure drops over time. From analysis of our results, images and video sequences with the corresponding physical data obtained, it is possible to follow visually the nucleation and subsequent both ‘free’ and ‘confined’ growth of a vapour bubble over time.


Author(s):  
Dohwan Kim ◽  
Matthew J. Rau

Abstract Small tubes and fins have long been used as methods to increase surface area for convective heat transfer in single-phase flow applications. As demands for high heat transfer effectiveness has increased, implementing evaporative phase-change heat transfer in conjunction with small fins, tubes, and surface structures in advanced heat exchanger and heat sink designs has become increasingly attractive. The complex two-phase flow that results from these configurations is poorly understood, particularly in how the gas phase interacts with the flow structure of the wake created by these bluff bodies. An experimental study of liquid-gas bubbly flow around a cylinder was performed to understand these complex flow physics. A 9.5 mm diameter cylinder was installed horizontally within a vertical water channel facility. A high-speed camera captured the movement of the liquid-gas mixture around the cylinder for a range of bubble sizes. Liquid Reynolds number, calculated based on the cylinder diameter, was varied approximately from 100 to 3000. Time-averaged probability of bubble presence was calculated to characterize the cylinder wake and its effects on the bubble motion. The influence of the liquid Reynolds number, superficial air velocity, and bubble size is discussed in the context of the observed two-phase flow patterns.


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.


Processes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zeyad Almutairi ◽  
Fayez M. Al-Alweet ◽  
Yusif A. Alghamdi ◽  
Omar A. Almisned ◽  
Othman Y. Alothman

Experiments of gas–liquid flow in a circular pipe for horizontal and inclined positions (upward/downward) are reported. The characteristics of two-phase flow in terms of liquid holdup (ε(L)) and induced flow patterns are studied using three experimental techniques; time-averaged ε(L) from permittivity profiles using electrical capacitance tomography (ECT), instantaneous ε(L) using two fast-closing valves (TFCV), and high-speed camera images (HSCI) to capture/identify the formed flow patterns. Thus, this experimental setup enables the development of more well-defined flow patterns in gas–liquid two-phase flow and allows for multi-technique verification of the results. Taken from experimental measurements, a model is proposed to predict ε(L) for high and low situations. The correlations are a function of the hydrodynamic dimensionless quantities which provide hydrodynamic similarity. Regarding different pipe orientations, ε(L) predictions are comparable to ε(L) from experimental measurements with accepted accuracy: 88% of the predictions are within ±5–15% and 98% are below ±20%. The correlations also were validated by reported results and against correlations available in the literature and show higher prediction accuracy. It is confirmed that the kinematic similarity which is achieved by the gas–liquid velocity ratios and the inertial forces influence the flow pattern and the liquid holdup.


2020 ◽  
Vol 846 ◽  
pp. 289-295
Author(s):  
Sukamta ◽  
Sudarja

Two-phase flow has been used in so many industrial processes, such as boilers, reactors, heat exchangers, geothermal and others. Some parameters which need to be studied include flow patterns, void fractions, and pressure changes. Research on void fractions aims to determine the composition of the gas and liquid phases that will affect the nature and value of the flow property. The purpose of this study is to find out the characteristics of the void fraction of various patterns that occurs and to determine the characteristics of the velocity, length, and frequency of bubbly and plug. Data acquisition was used to convert the data from analog to digital so that it can be recorded, stored, processed, and analyzed. High-speed camera Nikon type J4 was used to record the flow. The condition of the study was adiabatic with variation of superficial gas velocity (JG), superficial fluid velocity (JL), and also working fluid. To determine the void fraction by using the digital image processing method. The results of the study found that the flow patterns which occurred in this study were bubbly, plug, annular, slug-annular and churn flows. It also showed that the void fraction value is determined by the superficial velocity of the liquid and air. The higher the superficial velocity of the air, the lower the void fraction value.


Author(s):  
Yoshitaka Mizutani ◽  
Shigeo Hosokawa ◽  
Akio Tomiyama

Air-water two-phase flow patterns in a four by four square lattice rod bundle consisting of an acrylic channel box of 68 mm in width and transparent rods of 12 mm in diameter were observed by utilizing a high speed video camera, FEP (fluorinated ethylene propylene) tubes for rods, and a fiberscope inserted in a rod. The FEP possesses the same refractive index as water, and thereby, whole flow patterns in the bundle and local flow patterns in subchannels were successfully visualized with little optical distortion. The ranges of liquid and gas volume fluxes, <JG> and <JL>, in the present experiments were 0.1 < <JL> < 2.0 m/s and 0.04 < <JG> < 8.85 m/s, which covered typical two-phase flow patterns appearing in a fuel bundle of a boiling water nuclear reactor. As a result, the following conclusions were obtained: (1) the region of slug flow in the <JG> – <JL> flow pattern diagram is so narrow that it can be regarded as a boundary between bubbly and churn flows, (2) the boundary between bubbly and churn flows is close to the boundary between bubbly and slug flows of the Mishima & Ishii’s flow pattern transition model, and (3) the boundary between churn and annular flows is well predicted by the Mishima & Ishii’s model.


2014 ◽  
Vol 525 ◽  
pp. 256-259
Author(s):  
Wen Peng Hong ◽  
Guo Qing Niu ◽  
Ming Liang Jin

To investigate flow characteristics by high speed video systems, experimental study was conducted to gas-liquid two-phase flow in horizontal round small tube with diameter of 5.5 and 2.6 mm, the typical flow pattern images were obtained, but stratified flow of the conventional size horizontal channel had not been discovered. Gas and liquid superficial velocities range from 0.1 to 100 ms-1, and 0.01to 10.0 ms-1 respectively. Flow patterns for co-current flow of air-water mixtures in horizontal round tubes are determined by high-speed video analysis to develop flow regime maps and the transitions between these flow regimes. Comparisons with the relevant literatures show that diameter and surface tension effects play an important role in determining the flow patterns and transitions between them.


1982 ◽  
Vol 104 (4) ◽  
pp. 272-277
Author(s):  
D. B. Bliss ◽  
T. R. Quackenbush ◽  
M. E. Teske

A study was undertaken to predict steady flow conditions in two-phase steam/water flows in safety/relief discharge piping systems. The homogeneous-equilibrium model was used for the two-phase flow along with the ASME Steam Tables in subroutine form as a state equation. The approach can also accommodate single-phase flows of superheated steam or subcooled liquid. Subroutines were developed to simulate flows through isentropic area changes, abrupt area changes, adiabatic constant area pipes with friction, valves, two-phase shock waves, and mass addition at pipe junctions. These subroutines were combined to predict conditions in arbitrary complex piping systems. Sample calculations which treat both single line and multiple-branch piping systems are included.


Author(s):  
Dong Liu ◽  
Aritra Sur

Addition of surfactants to liquids helps to eliminate intermittent two-phase flow patterns and alleviate flow instability. These features are very desirable for two-phase microfluidic applications. However, very little information is available on two-phase flow patterns of surfactant solution in the microchannels. The present paper reports a study of adiabatic two-phase flow with surfactants in a circular microchannel of a 180-μm diameter. Air-water mixtures with trace quantities of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) were used in the experiments. The maximum superficial velocities measured were 4 m/s for the liquid and 65 m/s for the gas. High-speed photographic technique was employed to visualize various two-phase flow patterns and to identify the transition boundaries between different flow regimes. The results were compared to data obtained from air-water flow without surfactants. It was found that addition of surfactants brings in significant modification to the two-phase flow regimes as well as their transition characteristics in microchannels; in particular, slug flow is effectively suppressed.


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