Horizontal bubble flow

An experimental investigation of cocurrent bubble flow in 0.0254 m and 0.0508 m diameter horizontal pipelines has been performed. Gas and liquid mass velocities ranged from 0.00955 to 0.675 and 2720 to 6040 kg/m² sec, respectively, and gas-phase holdups or void fractions ranged from 0.13 to 7.59%.High speed motion pictures revealed that the gas, introduced into the liquid with a concentric nozzle, emerged in the form of a rough jet which was ultimately sheared into 1 times; 10^minus;3 to 3 times; 10^minus;3m diameter bubbles. Approximately 4 meters downstream from the nozzle, a well developed bubble flow was observed where bubble number density and axial velocity were constant with respect to axial position in the pipeline. Bubble velocities ranged from 0.001 to 0.57 m/sec greater than the average liquid velocities. Bubble radial and circumferential spatial distributions were found to be a strong function of the degree of turbulence in the liquid phase. Because of these turbulent flow conditions, bubble shapes were much different than those of equivalent diameter bubbles rising in stagnant liquids. A sphere-ellipsoid of revolution model was developed for characterization of bubble shape and computation of gas-liquid interfacial area and two-phase pressure drop.