Microgravity experiments of two-phase flow patterns aboard MIR space station

A first experimental study on two-phase flow patterns at a long-term, steady microgravity condition was conducted on board the Russian Space Station “MIR” in August 1999. Carbogal and air are used as the liquid and the gas phase, respectively. Bubble, slug, slug-annular transitional, and annular flows are observed. A new region of annular flow with lower liquid superficial velocity is discovered, and the region of the slug-annular transitional flow is wider than that observed by experiments on board the parabolic aircraft. The main patterns are bubble, slug-annular transitional and annular flows based on the experiments on board MIR space station. Some influences on the two-phase flow patterns in the present experiments are discussed. The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (19789201), the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (95-Yu-34), and the Post-doctoral Science Foundation of China