微重力条件下气/液两相流流型的研究进展

气／液两相流流型是两相流研究领域最基本的课题之一,至今已有数十年的研究历史．但是,由于气／液两相流动现象极为复杂,目前还没有得到一致的结论．近十多年来,利用微重力环境减弱甚至完全消除重力的影响,简化流动中各种不同因素间的相互作用及流型特征,大大促进了对气／液两相流动特征及流型产生与转换机理的研究．同时,微重力条件下的气／液两相流动是空间技术领域必须解决的关键技术问题之一,具有重要的学术意义和重大的应用价值．本文简要总结了微重力条件下气／液两相流流型研究的基本方法以及实验结果和理论进展,指出今后研究中应该注意的一些方向．      

可降解性表面活性剂体系下水平管内气液两相螺旋流实验研究

通过气液两相螺旋流实验仪器,研究具有可降解性的天然椰子油新型添加剂对于气液两相螺旋流流型影响以及流型的转变规律,并与表面活性剂十二烷基苯磺酸钠(SDBS)进行对比研究。实验工况设定为:实验介质为空气和水,含气率10%~90%,气相折算速度0.01~4.0m/s,液相折算速度0.01~4.0m/s,表面活性剂采用从植物提取的可降解性椰子油和SDBS,起旋装置为叶轮。实验观察到天然椰子油对于螺旋轴状流、螺旋团状流、螺旋弥散流转换特性的影响与SDBS的效果相类似,该三种流型发生条件相比于以往都有所提前,且存在范围被拓宽。浓度为500ppm时椰子油体系下的主要流型为螺旋弥散流,而SDBS体系下则以螺旋团状流为主。     

汽(气)液两相流流型在线识别的研究进展

综述了根据参数波动过程实现气液两相流流型在线识别的最新研究成果,内容包括两相流参数波动的产生机理,小波分析的应用,两相流参数波动过程的特征提取和特征分析,流型在线识别的特点及各种实现方法等。重点介绍了两相流参数波动过程的统计和非线性特征分析及其与流型之间的关系。深入讨论了流型神经网络识别方法及其存在的问题。从波动参数的选择、数理解释、流型识别方法等不同方面对研究进展进行了讨论。      

水平管内气液两相螺旋流实验研究

为研究水平管内气液两相螺旋流的流动特性,开展了以空气和水为实验介质,含气率为10％～90％,气相折算速度为0.01～3.4m/s,液相折算速度为0.05～2.7m/s的气液两相螺旋流实验.利用高速摄影机记录并参考借鉴相关研究结果分析和划分了不同工况下的流型;给出了水平管内气液两相螺旋流的流型图;研究了不同流速、不同起旋参数对流动特性(压降、流型衰减、螺距、螺旋直径以及流型转换边界等)的影响.实验结论如下:将水平管内气液两相螺旋流的流型划分为螺旋波状分层流、螺旋泡状流、螺旋团状流、螺旋线状流、螺旋轴状流、螺旋弥散流6种;将绘制的流型图与经典Mandhane流型图进行对比,出现了线状流、弥散流和轴状流3种新的流型;泡状流的分布基本不变,层状流的分布发生变化,当气相流速在2m/s以内时是线状流和轴状流,而不是层状流;随着液相流速的提高,管内两相流动的损失逐渐变大,流型的衰减程度变弱,螺旋扭矩逐渐变大,螺旋直径逐渐变小.另外,随着叶轮角度的增大或者随着叶片面积的减小,流型转换边界均向进气量增大的方向推移.而当进气量一定时,随着叶轮角度的增大或者随着叶片面积的减小,同样流型转换边界趋于进水量增大的方向.最后,随着起旋角度的增大或者随着叶片面积的减小,压降均有逐渐变大的趋势.     

垂直向下管内两相流泡状-弹状流型转换研究

建立实验系统,在维持管道出口压力为0.2MPa的条件下,对内径分别为15mm、25mm、40mm、65mm的垂直向下管内空气-水气液两相流动进行了实验研究,获得了两相流泡状-弹状流型分布。实验研究发现:管径对于泡状流与弹状流流型特征有较大影响,并且进一步影响流型转换边界,随着管径增加,泡状流-弹状流的流型转换边界向折算气速减小的方向移动。基于理论推导及实验数据,建立了垂直向下管内气液两相流泡状流-弹状流流型转换预测模型,该模型对本文实验工况条件下的垂直向下管内空气-水气液两相流流型转换具有良好的预测效果,预测模型的计算结果与实验数据之间的误差小于10%。     

不同重力下90°弯管内气液两相流流型及流动特性研究

研究了不同重力条件下90°弯管内气液两相流流型分布形态及流动特性. 通过建立90°弯管内气液两相流流动的三维数学物理模型,采用VOF 方法,对10-6g₀, 10-4g₀, 10-2g₀, 1g₀ (g₀= 9.8m/s2) 重力下的90°弯管内气液两相流流型分布特征、截面空隙率、滑速比及气相尾部最大斜向角进行了比较分析. 研究结果表明:所建立的模型能够正确模拟不同重力条件下90°弯管内气液两相流流型和截面空隙率,并得到气液两相弯管二次流与单相二次流的不同特性. 随着重力水平的提高,90°弯管对气相流型的影响作用减弱,气相整体向弯管内侧积聚靠拢,弯管对尾部的斜向作用减弱.      

T型微通道反应器内气液两相流动机制及影响因素

基于液滴或气泡的多相微流控是近年来微流控技术中快速发展的重要分支之一.本文利用高速显微摄影技术和数字图像处理技术对T型微通道反应器内气液两相流动机制及影响因素进行实验研究.实验采用添加表面活性剂的海藻酸钠水溶液作为液相,空气作为气相.研究T型微通道反应器内气液两相流型的转变过程,并根据微通道内气泡的生成频率和生成气泡的长径比对气泡流进行分类.研究发现当前的进料方式下,可以观测到气泡流和分层流2种流型,且依据气泡生成频率和微通道内气泡的长径比可将气泡流划分为分散气泡流、短弹状气泡流和长弹状气泡流3种类型,并基于受力分析确定3种气泡流的形成机制分别为剪切机制、剪切-挤压机制和挤压机制.考察不同液相黏度和表面张力系数对不同类型气泡流范围的影响规律.结果表明:液相黏度相较于表面张力系数而言,对气泡流生成范围影响更大.给出不同类型气泡流流型转变条件的无量纲关系式,实现微通道生成微气泡过程的可控操作.      

线性稳定性理论在圆管充分发展两相流型研究中的应用

圆截面光滑直管内充分发展的两流体同心环状流的线性稳定性研究不仅具有重要的学术意义,而且在预测两相流型转换方面也有着重要应用.本文评述了该流动构型的线性稳定性研究进展,着重分析了该流动构型的失稳机制及其与两相流型转换间的关系,并针对微重力气-液两相流地面模拟实验问题,探讨了今后需要着重研究的若干方面.      

欠平衡钻气井零液流气提模拟实验及压降规律

建立总高18m、外管内径90mm、内管外径50mm的环空可视化实验装置,进行不同注气量、不同持液率条件下的井筒气提零液流可视化实验;在小气量条件下得到了泡流流型,在高气量条件下得到了搅动流流型。研究结果表明:由于中心管柱的偏心,在流型流态上泡流迅速向搅动流转变;以实验数据为基础,建立该特殊工况下的流型划分标准、压降和持液率数学模型,其结果与实验吻合较好。     

T型微通道反应器内气液两相流动机制及影响因素

基于液滴或气泡的多相微流控是近年来微流控技术中快速发展的重要分支之一.本文利用高速显微摄影技术和数字图像处理技术对T型微通道反应器内气液两相流动机制及影响因素进行实验研究.实验采用添加表面活性剂的海藻酸钠水溶液作为液相,空气作为气相.研究T型微通道反应器内气液两相流型的转变过程,并根据微通道内气泡的生成频率和生成气泡的长径比对气泡流进行分类.研究发现当前的进料方式下,可以观测到气泡流和分层流2种流型,且依据气泡生成频率和微通道内气泡的长径比可将气泡流划分为分散气泡流、短弹状气泡流和长弹状气泡流3种类型,并基于受力分析确定3种气泡流的形成机制分别为剪切机制、剪切–挤压机制和挤压机制.考察不同液相黏度和表面张力系数对不同类型气泡流范围的影响规律.结果表明:液相黏度相较于表面张力系数而言,对气泡流生成范围影响更大.给出不同类型气泡流流型转变条件的无量纲关系式,实现微通道生成微气泡过程的可控操作.     

A separated flow model for predicting two-phase pressure drop and evaporative heat transfer for vertical annular flow

A separated flow model has been developed that is applicable to vertical annular two-phase flow in the purely convective heat transfer regime. Conservation of mass, momentum, and energy are used to solve for the liquid film thickness, pressure drop, and heat transfer coefficient. Closure relationships are specified for the interfacial friction factor, liquid film eddy-viscosity, turbulent Prandtl number, and entrainment rate. Although separated flow models have been reported previously, their use has been limited, because they were tested over a limited range of flow and thermal conditions. The unique feature of this model is that it has been tested and calibrated against a vast array of two-phase pressure drop and heat transfer data, which include upflow, downflow, and microgravity flow conditions. The agreements between the measured and predicted pressure drops and heat transfer coefficients are, on average, better or comparable to the most reliable empirical correlations. This separated flow model is demonstrated to be a reliable and practical predictive tool for computing two-phase pressure drop and heat transfer rates. All of the datasets have been obtained from the open literature.     

Flow regime development analysis in adiabatic upward two-phase flow in a vertical annulus

In this work radial and axial flow regime development in adiabatic upward air-water two-phase flow in a vertical annulus has been investigated. Local flow regimes have been identified using conductivity probes and neural networks techniques. The inner and outer diameters of the annulus are 19.1 mm and 38.1 mm, respectively. The equivalent hydraulic diameter of the flow channel, D_H, is 19.0 mm and the total length is 4.37 m. The flow regime map includes 1080 local flow regimes identifications in 72 flow conditions within a range of 0.01 m/s < 〈j_g〉 < 30 m/s and 0.2 m/s < 〈j_f〉 < 3.5 m/s where 〈j_g〉 and 〈j_f〉 are, respectively, superficial gas and liquid velocities. The local flow regime has been classified into four categories: bubbly, cap-slug, churn-turbulent and annular flows. In order to study the radial and axial development of flow regime the measurements have been performed at five radial locations. The three axial positions correspond to z/D_H = 52, 149 and 230, where z represents the axial position. The flow regime indicator has been chosen as some statistical parameters of local bubble chord length distributions and self-organized neural networks have been used as mapping system. This information has been also used to compare the results given by the existing flow regime transition models. The local flow regime is characterized basically by the void fraction and bubble chord length. The radial development of flow regime shows partial and complete local flow regime combinations. The radial development is controlled by axial location and superficial liquid velocity. The radial flow regime transition is always initiated in the center of the flow channel and it is propagated towards the channel boundaries. The axial development of flow regime is observed in all the flow maps and it is governed by superficial liquid velocity and radial location. The prediction results of the models are compared for each flow regime transition.     

Flow regime transitions due to cavitation in the flow through an orifice

This paper presents both experimental and theoretical aspects of the flow regime transitions caused by cavitation when water is passing through an orifice. Cavitation inception marks the transition from single-phase to two-phase bubbly flow; choked cavitation marks the transition from two-phase bubbly flow to two-phase annular jet flow.

It has been found that the inception of cavitation does not necessarily require that the minimum static pressure at the vena contracta downstream of the orifice, be equal to the vapour pressure liquid. In fact, it is well above the vapour pressure at the point of inception. The cavitation number [σ = (P₃ − P_v)/(0.5 pV²); here P₃ is the downstream pressure, P_v is the vapour pressure of the liquid, ρ is the density of the liquid and V is the average liquid velocity at the orifice] at inception is independent of the liquid velocity but strongly dependent on the size of the geometry. Choked cavitation occurs when this minimum pressure approaches the vapour pressure. The cavitation number at the choked condition is a function of the ratio of the orifice diameter (d) to the pipe diameter (D) only. When super cavitation occurs, the dimensionless jet length [L/(D - d); where L is the dimensional length of the jet] can be correlated by using the cavitation number. The vaporization rate of the surface of the liquid jet in super cavitation has been evaluated based on the experiments.

Experiments have also been conducted in which air was deliberately introduced at the vena contracta to simulate the flow regime transition at choked cavitation. Correlations have been obtained to calculate the critical air flow rate required to cause the flow regime transition. By drawing an analogy with choked cavitation, where the air flow rate required to cause the transition is zero, the vapour and released gas flow rate can be predicted.     

Nitrogen/non-Newtonian fluid two-phase upward flow in non-circular microchannels

This paper presents experimental investigations on nitrogen/non-Newtonian fluid two-phase flow in vertical noncircular microchannels, which have square or triangular cross-section with the hydraulic diameters being D_h = 2.5, 2.886 and 0.866 mm, respectively, by visualization method. Three non-Newtonian aqueous solutions with typical rheological properties, i.e., 0.4% carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), 0.2% polyacrylamide (PAM) and 0.2% xanthan gum (XG) are chosen as the working fluids. The common flow patterns are identified as slug flow, churn flow and annular flow. The dispersed bubble flow is only found in the case with nitrogen/CMC solution two-phase flow in the largest channel. A new flow pattern of nitrogen/PAM solution two-phase flow, named chained bubble/slug flow, is observed in all the test channels. The flow regime maps are also developed and the results show that the rheological properties of the non-Newtonian fluid have remarkable influence on the flow pattern transitions. The geometrical factors of the microchannel such as the cross-section shape and hydraulic diameter of the channel can also affect the flow regime map. Finally, the results obtained in this work are compared with the available flow pattern transitions.     

FINITE DIFFERENCE SIMULATION OF A STRATIFIED TWO-PHASE SYSTEM

SUMMARY

We have analyzed several different approaches for simulating the fluid motion of a stratified two-phase system. The flow regime is transformed to a regular domain for numerical integration and the standard finite difference formulas are applied to discretize the governing and mapping equations. Five different interface iteration schemes that are based on the kinematic condition and the normal stress balance have been derived to update the position of the liquid-liquid interface. We have found that the iterative scheme based on the normal stress balance is more stable and is applicable to a wide range of capillary numbers, and that these appear to be the only sensitive parameter in the stratified two-phase system under consideration.     

Microgravity flow regime data and analysis

To utilize the advantageous properties of two-phase flow in microgravity applications, the knowledge base of two-phase flow phenomena must be extended to include the effects of gravity. In the experiment described, data regarding the behavior of two-phase flow in a conduit under microgravity conditions (essentially zero gravity) are explored. Of particular interest, knowledge of the void fraction of the gas and liquid in a conduit is necessary to develop models for heat and mass transfer, pressure drop, and wall shear. An experiment was conducted under reduced gravity conditions to collect data by means of a capacitance void fraction sensor and high speed visual imagery. Independent parameters were varied to map the flow regime regions. These independent parameters include gas and liquid volumetric flow rates and saturation pressures. Void fraction measurements were taken at a rate of 100 Hz with six sensors at two locations along the conduit. Further, statistical parameters were developed from the void fraction measurements. Statistical parameters such as variance, signal-to-noise ratio, half height value, and linear area difference were calculated and found to have characteristics allowing flow regime identification.     

Kinematic Parameters of a Two-Phase Flow in a Rectangular Channel

A kinematic two-phase flow pattern formed in a rectangular channel due to the interaction of a gas flow with an initially stationary or moving water layer is investigated. Using laser diagnostics and hot-wire methods, the velocity distributions in the water and the air are found for a stratified flow regime.     

Flow regime transition criteria for two-phase flow at reduced gravity conditions

Flow regime transition criteria are of practical importance for two-phase flow analyses at reduced gravity conditions. Here, flow regime transition criteria which take the frictional pressure loss effect into account were studied in detail. Criteria at reduced gravity conditions were developed by extending an existing model from normal gravity to reduced gravity conditions. A comparison of the newly developed flow regime transition criteria model with various experimental datasets taken at microgravity conditions showed satisfactory agreement. Sample computations of the model were performed at various gravity conditions, such as 0.196, 1.62, 3.71 and 9.81 m/s² corresponding to micro-gravity and lunar, Martian and Earth surface gravity, respectively. It was found that the effect of gravity on bubbly–slug and slug–annular (churn) transitions in a two-phase flow system was more pronounced at low liquid flow conditions, whereas the gravity effect could be ignored at high mixture volumetric flux conditions. While for the annular flow transitions due to flow reversal and onset of droplet entrainment, higher superficial gas velocity was obtained at higher gravity level.     

Two-phase flow instabilities in a silicon microchannels heat sink

Two-phase flow instabilities are highly undesirable in microchannels-based heat sinks as they can lead to temperature oscillations with high amplitudes, premature critical heat flux and mechanical vibrations. This work is an experimental study of boiling instabilities in a microchannel silicon heat sink with 40 parallel rectangular microchannels, having a length of 15 mm and a hydraulic diameter of 194 μm. A series of experiments have been carried out to investigate pressure and temperature oscillations during the flow boiling instabilities under uniform heating, using water as a cooling liquid. Thin nickel film thermometers, integrated on the back side of a heat sink with microchannels, were used in order to obtain a better insight related to temperature fluctuations caused by two-phase flow instabilities. Flow regime maps are presented for two inlet water temperatures, showing stable and unstable flow regimes. It was observed that boiling leads to asymmetrical flow distribution within microchannels that result in high temperature non-uniformity and the simultaneously existence of different flow regimes along the transverse direction. Two types of two-phase flow instabilities with appreciable pressure and temperature fluctuations were observed, that depended on the heat to mass flux ratio and inlet water temperature. These were high amplitude/low frequency and low amplitude/high frequency instabilities. High speed camera imaging, performed simultaneously with pressure and temperature measurements, showed that inlet/outlet pressure and the temperature fluctuations existed due to alternation between liquid/two-phase/vapour flows. It was also determined that the inlet water subcooling condition affects the magnitudes of the temperature oscillations in two-phase flow instabilities and flow distribution within the microchannels.