Experimental study on interfacial area transport of a vertical downward bubbly flow

In relation to the development of the interfacial area transport equation, local flow measurements of vertical downward air–water flows in a pipe with an inner diameter of 50.8 mm were performed at three axial locations of z/D=6.50, 34.0, and 66.5 as well as ten radial locations from r/R=0 to r/R=0.9 using a multi-sensor probe. In the experiment, the superficial liquid velocity and the void fraction ranged from –0.620 m/s to –2.49 m/s and from 0.21% to 8.4%, respectively. The dependence of the interfacial area transport on the liquid velocity, void fraction, and bubble size is discussed in detail.     

Interfacial dynamics‐based modelling of turbulent cavitating flows,Part‐2: Time‐dependent computations

The interfacial dynamics‐based cavitation model, developed in Part‐1, is further employed for unsteady flow computations. The pressure‐based operator‐splitting algorithm (PISO) is extended to handle the time‐dependent cavitating flows with particular focus on the coupling of the cavitation and turbulence models, and the large density ratio associated with cavitation. Furthermore, the compressibility effect is important for unsteady cavitating flows because in a water–vapour mixture, depending on the composition, the speed of sound inside the cavity can vary by an order of magnitude. The implications of the issue of the speed of the sound are assessed with alternative modelling approaches. Depending on the geometric confinement of the nozzle, compressibility model and cavitation numbers, either auto‐oscillation or quasi‐steady behaviour is observed. The adverse pressure gradient in the closure region is stronger at the maximum cavity size. One can also observe that the mass transfer process contributes to the cavitation dynamics. Compared to the steady flow computations, the velocity and vapour volume fraction distributions within the cavity are noticeably improved with time‐dependent computations. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Magnetic resonance imaging of velocity fields, the void fraction and gas dynamics in a cavitating liquid

In acoustic cavitation, the relationship between the bubble dynamics on the microscale and the flow properties on the macroscale is critical in determining sonochemical reaction kinetics. A new technique was developed to measure the void fraction and estimate water mobility in the vicinity of cavitating bubbles using phase-encoded magnetic resonance imaging with short characteristic measurement timescales (0.1–1 ms). The exponential behavior of the NMR signal decay indicated the fast diffusion regime, with the relationship between local mechanical dispersion D _mix and the average bubble radius R, D_mix >> \frac2R²10^-4s, D_{\rm mix}\gg \frac{2R^2}{10^{-4}\hbox{s}}, resulting in dispersion of orders of magnitude greater than diffusion in quiescent water. For two different samples (water and a surfactant solution), the independent measurements of three-dimensional void fraction and velocity fields permitted the calculation of compressibility, divergence and vorticity of the cavitating medium. The measured dynamics of the dissolved gas, compared with that of the surrounding liquid, reflected the difference in the bubble coalescence and lifetimes and correlated with the macroscopic flow parameters.     

Numerical simulation of cavitating flow in 2D and 3D inducer geometries

A computational method is proposed to simulate 3D unsteady cavitating flows in spatial turbopump inducers. It is based on the code FineTurbo, adapted to take into account two‐phase flow phenomena. The initial model is a time‐marching algorithm devoted to compressible flow, associated with a low‐speed preconditioner to treat low Mach number flows. The presented work covers the 3D implementation of a physical model developed in LEGI for several years to simulate 2D unsteady cavitating flows. It is based on a barotropic state law that relates the fluid density to the pressure variations. A modification of the preconditioner is proposed to treat efficiently as well highly compressible two‐phase flow areas as weakly compressible single‐phase flow conditions. The numerical model is applied to time‐accurate simulations of cavitating flow in spatial turbopump inducers. The first geometry is a 2D Venturi type section designed to simulate an inducer blade suction side. Results obtained with this simple test case, including the study of its general cavitating behaviour, numerical tests, and precise comparisons with previous experimental measurements inside the cavity, lead to a satisfactory validation of the model. A complete three‐dimensional rotating inducer geometry is then considered, and its quasi‐static behaviour in cavitating conditions is investigated. Numerical results are compared to experimental measurements and visualizations, and a promising agreement is obtained. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

High speed digital imaging of cavitating vortices

 Researchers at the Cavitation and Multiphase Flow Laboratory of the University of Michigan worked in conjunction with Princeton Scientific Instruments (PSI) engineers to employ a new digital imaging system in the study of partial attached cavitation. The new high speed solid state system, the Princeton Scientific Ultra Fast Framing Camera (UFFC), was designed for cavitation studies where framing rates of 10⁵–10⁶ frames/s are required to image the detailed mechanisms of cavitating flows. The UFFC, which uses a PSI patented Charge Coupled Device (CCD) array image sensor, was designed to capture 30 frames at a maximum framing rate of 1 million frames/second. In these experiments, a maximum framing rate of 125000 frames per second (8 μs/frame) was used to examine cavitating vortices in the closure region of a partial attached cavity. The vortical structures in the closure region of the attached cavity were imaged, and the evolution and collapse of these flow structures were examined. Relationships between the cavitating vortices size, strength, and collapse time were observed. Received: 15 November 1996/Accepted: 1 December 1997     

Transition of boundary layer flows in the presence of Goertler vortices

Transition of boundary layer flows in the presence of longitudinal counter-rotating Goertler vortices was experimentally investigated on a concave surface of 1.0 m radius of curvature in a perspex (plexiglass) curved rectangular duct connected to a low speed wind tunnel for a free-stream velocity range of 5.7–11.8 m/s. Quantitative measurements were carried out using a single sensor hot-wire anemometer, while the boundary layer transitions were detected using frequency spectrum method. The results confirm that in the presence of Goertler vortices, transition is initiated at the boundary layer upwash regions, and also agree well with the predicted values obtained using the two existing empirical transition criteria for concave surface boundary layer flows.     

Turbulent time and length scale measurements in high-velocity open channel flows

In high-velocity open channel flows, the measurements of air–water flow properties are complicated by the strong interactions between the flow turbulence and the entrained air. In the present study, an advanced signal processing of traditional single- and dual-tip conductivity probe signals is developed to provide further details on the air–water turbulent level, time and length scales. The technique is applied to turbulent open channel flows on a stepped chute conducted in a large-size facility with flow Reynolds numbers ranging from 3.8E+5 to 7.1E+5. The air water flow properties presented some basic characteristics that were qualitatively and quantitatively similar to previous skimming flow studies. Some self-similar relationships were observed systematically at both macroscopic and microscopic levels. These included the distributions of void fraction, bubble count rate, interfacial velocity and turbulence level at a macroscopic scale, and the auto- and cross-correlation functions at the microscopic level. New correlation analyses yielded a characterisation of the large eddies advecting the bubbles. Basic results included the integral turbulent length and time scales. The turbulent length scales characterised some measure of the size of large vortical structures advecting air bubbles in the skimming flows, and the data were closely related to the characteristic air–water depth Y ₉₀. In the spray region, present results highlighted the existence of an upper spray region for C > 0.95–0.97 in which the distributions of droplet chord sizes and integral advection scales presented some marked differences with the rest of the flow.     

An assessment of pressure drop and void fraction correlations with data from two-phase natural circulation loops

 Void fraction and pressure drop correlations play an important role in predicting the performance of natural circulation loops. Hence an assessment of the commonly used and often cited correlations for pressure drop and void fraction has been carried out with data from natural circulation loops. This assessment considered 33 void fraction correlations and 14 pressure drop correlations. The void fraction correlations were initially tested against the various limiting conditions. Only 14 correlations were found to satisfy at least two limiting conditions (i.e., at x = 0; α = 0 and at x = 1; α = 1) and were assessed against the data. This assessment showed that the Chexal et al. (1996) correlation is better than all the others considered. The assessment of pressure drop correlations were carried out with the Chexal et al. (1996) correlation for void fraction and Saha-Zuber model for the onset of subcooled boiling. This assessment showed that most correlations give predictions close to each other. Received on 17 January 2000     

Dynamic film thickness between bubbles and wall in a narrow channel

The present paper describes a novel technique to characterize the behavior of the liquid film between gas bubbles and the wall in a narrow channel. The method is based on the electrical conductance. Two liquid film sensors are installed on both opposite walls in a narrow rectangular channel. The liquid film thickness underneath the gas bubbles is recorded by the first sensor, while the void fraction information is obtained by measuring the conductance between the pair of opposite sensors. Both measurements are taken on a large two-dimensional domain and with a high speed. This makes it possible to obtain the two-dimensional distribution of the dynamic liquid film between the bubbles and the wall. In this study, this method was applied to an air–water flow ranging from bubbly to churn regimes in the narrow channel with a gap width of 1.5 mm.     

Experiments and modeling of cavitating flows in venturi: attached sheet cavitation

Correlated experimental and numerical studies were carried out to analyze cavitating flows and to describe the two-phase flow structures of attached sheet cavitation in Venturi geometries. New double optical probe measurements were performed and special data processing methods were developed to estimate void ratio and velocity fields for cold water flows.By applying a computational method previously developed in LEGI (Laboratoire des Ecoulements Géophysiques et Industriels, Grenoble, France) based on the code Fine^TM/Turbo and on a barotropic approach, several steady calculations were performed in cold water cavitating flows. Local and global analyzes based on comparisons between experimental and numerical results were proposed.     

Development of a robust image processing technique for bubbly flow measurement in a narrow rectangular channel

This paper presents a robust image processing technique for bubbly flow measurement over a wide range of void fractions. The proposed algorithm combines geometrical, optical and topological information recorded with high speed cameras to separate and reconstruct the overlapping bubbles. The common difficulties such as overlapping, irregular bubble shape, surface deformation and large clustering in digital image processing are solved by combining different information based on a preset decision table and flow chart. Test with synthetic bubble images is performed to evaluate the reliability of the algorithm and quantify the uncertainty of the data. The result shows that the proposed algorithm can accurately measure bubbly flows with void fraction up to 18% for large bubbles. Four runs of bubbly flow images in a 30 mm  ×  10 mm rectangular channel are then recorded by three high speed cameras. The area-averaged void fraction of these test runs range from 2.4% to 9.1%. The axial and lateral distributions of bubble number density are obtained by the present algorithm for studying the characteristics of these flows.     

Measurements within unsteady cavitation

A current method used to characterize the phase distribution within gas (or vapor)/liquid two-phase flows consists of using local probes. Two sensors placed in series enable void fraction, velocity, and chord length measurements. The choice of the data treatment method depends strongly on the unsteady behavior of the flow: the higher the velocity fluctuations, the more complex and time consuming the data treatments. Three different methods have been developed to study various cavitating flow conditions. They have been applied to characterize two-phase flows within sheet cavities using a double optical probe. Received: 8 October 1999/Accepted: 29 December 1999     

Measurement and modeling of two-phase flow parameters in scaled 8 × 8 BWR rod bundle

The behavior of reactor systems is predicted using advanced computational codes in order to determine the safety characteristics of the system during various accidents and to determine the performance characteristics of the reactor. These codes generally utilize the two-fluid model for predictions of two-phase flows, as this model is the most accurate and detailed model which is currently practical for predicting large-scale systems. One of the weaknesses of this approach however is the need to develop constitutive models for various quantities. Of specific interest are the models used in the prediction of void fraction and pressure drop across the rod bundle due to their importance in new Natural Circulation Boiling Water Reactor (NCBWR) designs, where these quantities determine the coolant flow rate through the core. To verify the performance of these models and expand the existing experimental database, data has been collected in an 8 × 8 rod bundle which is carefully scaled from actual BWR geometry and includes grid spacers to maintain rod spacing. While these spacer grids are ’generic’, their inclusion does provide valuable data for analysis of the effect of grid spacers on the flow. In addition to pressure drop measurements the area-averaged void fraction has been measured by impedance void meters and local conductivity probes have been used to measure the local void fraction and interfacial area concentration in the bundle subchannels. Experimental conditions covered a wide range of flow rates and void fractions up to 80%.     

Optical probe visualization of air–water flow structure through a sudden area contraction

 Single-fiber optical probes were used to investigate the time-averaged structure of gas–liquid horizontal flow through a sharp-edged sudden area contraction. The probes allowed to measure the local void fraction distribution over several cross sections of a pipe having an inner diameter of 0.08 m upstream and 0.06 m downstream of the sudden contraction. The water mass flow rate was 3 kg/s, while the gas fraction of the volume flow ranged from 0.2 to 0.8. The local void fraction was plotted as a function of its two spatial coordinates, so that a representation of the time-averaged gas distribution over the cross section could be obtained. The contraction was shown to considerably alter the distribution of the phases, so that the correlations for straight pipes appear no longer suitable. Received: 27 August 2001 / Accepted: 19 November 2001     

Vertical, Bubbly, Cross-Flow Characteristics over Tube Bundles

Two-phase flow over tube bundles is commonly observed in shell and tube-type heat exchangers. However, only limited amount of data concerning flow pattern and void fraction exists due to the flow complexity and the difficulties in measurement. The detailed flow structure in tube bundles needs to be understood for reliable and effective design. Therefore, the objective of this study was to clarify the two-phase structure of cross-flow in tube bundles by PIV. Experiments were conducted using two types of models, namely in-line and staggered arrays with a pitch-to-diameter ratio of 1.5. Each test section contains 20 rows of five 15 mm O.D. tubes in each row. The experiment’s data were obtained under very low void fraction (α<0.02). Liquid and gas velocity data in the whole flow field were measured successfully by optical filtering and image processing. The structures of bubbly flow in the two different configurations of tube bundles were described in terms of the velocity vector field, turbulence intensity and void fraction.     

Prediction of separation flows around a 6：1 prolate spheroid using RANS/LES hybrid approaches

This paper presents hybrid Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) and large-eddy-simulation (LES) methods for the separated flows at high angles of attack around a 6:1 prolate spheroid. The RANS/LES hybrid methods studied in this work include the detached eddy simulation (DES) based on Spalart–Allmaras (S–A), Menter’s k–ω shear-stress-transport (SST) and k–ω with weakly nonlinear eddy viscosity formulation (Wilcox–Durbin+, WD+) models and the zonal-RANS/LES methods based on the SST and WD+ models. The switch from RANS near the wall to LES in the core flow region is smooth through the implementation of a flow-dependent blending function for the zonal hybrid method. All the hybrid methods are designed to have a RANS mode for the attached flows and have a LES behavior for the separated flows. The main objective of this paper is to apply the hybrid methods for the high Reynolds number separated flows around prolate spheroid at high-incidences. A fourth-order central scheme with fourth-order artificial viscosity is applied for spatial differencing. The fully implicit lower–upper symmetric-Gauss–Seidel with pseudo time sub-iteration is taken as the temporal differentiation. Comparisons with available measurements are carried out for pressure distribution, skin friction, and profiles of velocity, etc. Reasonable agreement with the experiments, accounting for the effect on grids and fundamental turbulence models, is obtained for the separation flows. The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (10502030 and 90505005).     

Modelling detonation waves in condensed energetic materials: multiphase CJ conditions and multidimensional computations

A hyperbolic multiphase flow model with a single pressure and a single velocity but several temperatures is proposed to deal with the detonation dynamics of condensed energetic materials. Temperature non-equilibrium effects are mandatory in order to deal with wave propagation (shocks, detonations) in heterogeneous mixtures. The model is obtained as the asymptotic limit of a total non-equilibrium multiphase flow model in the limit of stiff mechanical relaxation only (Kapila et al. in Phys Fluids 13:3002–3024, 2001). Special attention is given to mass transfer modelling, that is obtained on the basis of entropy production analysis in each phase and in the system (Saurel et al. in J Fluid Mech 607:313–350, 2008). With the help of the shock relations given in Saurel et al. (Shock Waves 16:209–232, 2007) the model is closed and provides a generalized ZND formulation for condensed energetic materials. In particular, generalized CJ conditions are obtained. They are based on a balance between the chemical reaction energy release and internal heat exchanges among phases. Moreover, the sound speed that appears at sonic surface corresponds to the one of Wood (A textbook of sound, G. Bell and Sons LTD, London, 1930) that presents a non-monotonic behaviour versus volume fraction. Therefore, non-conventional reaction zone structure is observed. When heat exchanges are absent, the conventional ZND model with conventional CJ conditions is recovered. When heat exchanges are involved interesting features are observed. The flow behaviour presents similarities with non ideal detonations (Wood and Kirkwood in J Chem Phys 22:1920–1924, 1950) and pathological detonations (Von Neuman in Theory of detonation waves, 1942; Guenoche et al. in AIAA Prog Astron Aeronaut 75: 387–407, 1981). It also present non-conventional behaviour with detonation velocity eventually greater than the CJ one. Multidimensional resolution of the corresponding model is then addressed. This poses serious difficulties related to the presence of material interfaces and shock propagation in multiphase mixtures. The first issue is solved by an extension of the method derived in Saurel et al. (J Comput Phys 228(5):1678–1712, 2009) in the presence of heat and mass transfers. The second issue poses the difficult mathematical question of numerical approximation of non-conservative systems in the presence of shocks associated to the physical question of energy partition among phases for a multiphase shock. A novel approach is used, based on extra evolution equations used to retain the information of the material initial state. This method insures convergence in the post-shock state. Thanks to these various theoretical and numerical ingredients, one-dimensional and multidimensional unsteady detonation waves computations are done, eventually in the presence of material interfaces. Convergence of the numerical hyperbolic solver against ZND multiphase solution is reached. Material interfaces, shocks, detonations are solved with a unified formulation where the same equations are solved everywhere with the same numerical scheme.     

Characteristics of developing vertical bubbly flow under normal and microgravity conditions

The axial development of the void fraction profile, interfacial area concentration and Sauter mean bubble diameter of adiabatic nitrogen-water bubbly flows in a 9 mm-diameter pipe were measured using stereo image processing under normal and microgravity conditions. The flow measurements were performed at four axial locations (axial distance from the inlet, z normalized by the pipe diameter, D, z/D = 5, 20, 40 and 60) and with various flows: superficial gas velocity of 0.00840-0.0298 m/s, and superficial liquid velocity of 0.138-0.914 m/s. The effect of gravity on radial distribution of bubbles and the axial development of two-phase flow parameters is discussed in detail based on the obtained database and visual observation. Following Serizawa-Kataoka’s phase distribution pattern criteria under normal gravity conditions, the phase distribution pattern map was developed. Similar to normal gravity two-phase flows, wall, core and intermediate void peak patterns are observed under microgravity conditions but a transition void distribution pattern is not observed in the current experimental conditions. The data obtained in the current experiment are expected to contribute to the benchmarking of CFD simulation of phase distribution pattern and interfacial area concentration in forced convective pipe flow under microgravity conditions.     

Effect of nonuniform accommodation coefficient distribution on the couette flow

The Couette flow is considered for surfaces with nonuniformly distributed energy accommodation coefficients α. It is shown that at Knudsen numbers greater or of the order of unity heat fluxes and viscous stresses can be considerably optimized by varying the surface distribution of α at a fixed integral value. At the same time, for Kn ≪ 1 the flows with nonuniformly distributed α are similar with the flow with a constant accommodation coefficient equal to its mean value.     

Bubbly-to-cap bubbly flow transition in a long-26 m vertical large diameter pipe at low liquid flow rate

The concurrent upward two-phase flow of air and water in a long vertical large diameter pipe with an inner diameter (D) of 200 mm and a height (z) of 26 m (z/D = 130) was investigated experimentally at low superficial liquid velocities from 0.05009 to 0.3121 m/s and the superficial gas velocities from 0.01779 to 0.5069 m/s. The resultant void fractions range from 0.03579 to 0.4059. According to the observations using a high speed video camera, the flow regimes of bubbly, developing cap bubbly and fully-developed cap bubbly flows prevailed in the flows. The developing cap bubbly flow appeared as a flow regime transition from bubbly to fully-developed cap bubble flow in the vertical large diameter pipe. The developing cap bubbly flow changes gradually and lasts for a long time period and a wide axial region in the flow direction, in contrast to a sudden transition from bubbly to slug flows in a small diameter pipe. The analysis in this study showed that the flow regime transition depends not only on the void fraction but also on the axial distance in the flow and the pipe diameter. The axial flow development brings about the transition to happen in a lower void fraction flow and the increase of pipe diameter causes the transition to happen in a higher void fraction flow. The measured void fraction showed an N-shaped axial changing manner that the void fraction increases monotonously with axial position in the bubbly flow, decreases non-monotonously with axial position in the developing cap bubbly flow, and increases monotonously again with axial position in the fully-developed cap bubbly flow. The temporary void fraction decrease phenomenon in the transition region from bubbly to cap bubbly flow can be attributed to the formation of medium to large cap bubbles and their gradual growth into the maximum size of cap bubble and/or cluster of large cap bubbles in the developing cap bubbly flow. In order to predict the N-shaped axial void fraction changing behaviors in the flow regime transition from bubbly to cap bubbly flow, the existing 12 drift flux correlation sets for large diameter pipes are reviewed and their predictabilities are studied against the present experimental data. Although some drift flux correlation sets, such as those of Clark and Flemmer (1986) and Hibiki and Ishii (2003), can predict the present experimental data with reasonable average relative deviations, no drift flux correlation set for distribution parameter and drift velocity can give a reliable prediction for the observed N-shaped axial void fraction changing behaviors in the region from bubbly to cap bubbly flow in a vertical large diameter pipe.