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.     

Influence of single rectangular groove on the flow past a circular cylinder

In the present study, flow control mechanism of single groove on a circular cylinder surface is presented experimentally using Particle image velocimetry (PIV). A square shaped groove is patterned longitudinally on the surface of the cylinder with a diameter of 50 mm. The flow characteristics are studied as a function of angular position of the groove from the forward stagnation point of the cylinder within 0° ≤ θ ≤ 150°. In the current work, instantaneous and time-averaged flow data such as vorticity, ω streamline, Ψ streamwise, u/U_o and transverse, v/U_o velocity components, turbulent kinetic energy, TKE and RMS of streamwise, u_rms and transverse, v_rms velocity components are utilized in order to present the results of quantitative analyses. Furthermore, Strouhal numbers are calculated using Karman vortex shedding frequency, f_k obtained from single point spectral analysis. It is concluded that a critical angular position of the groove, θ = 80° is observed. The flow separation is controlled within 0° ≤ θ < 80°. At θ = 80°, the flow separation starts to occur in the upstream direction. The instability within the shear layer is also induced on grooved side of the cylinder with frequencies different than Karman vortex shedding frequency, f_k.     

Direct numerical simulation of a turbulent boundary layer up to Reθ = 2500

Direct numerical simulations (DNSs) of a turbulent boundary layer (TBL) with Re_θ = 570-2560 were performed to investigate the spatial development of its turbulence characteristics. The inflow simulation was conducted in the range Re_θ = 570-1600 by using Lund’s method. To resolve the numerical periodicity induced by the recycling method, we adopted a sufficiently long streamwise domain of x/θ_in,i = 1000 (=125δ_0,i), where θ_in,i is the inlet momentum thickness and δ_0,i is the inlet boundary layer thickness in the inflow simulation. Furthermore, the main simulation with a length greater than 50δ₀ was carried out independently by using the inflow data, where δ₀ is the inlet boundary layer thickness of the main simulation. The integral quantities and the first-, second- and higher-order turbulence statistics were compared with those of previous data, and good agreement was found. The present study provides a useful database for the turbulence statistics of TBLs. In addition, instantaneous field and two-point correlation of the streamwise velocity fluctuations displayed the existence of the very large-scale motions (VLSMs) with the characteristic widths of 0.1-0.2δ and that the flow structure for a length of approximately ∼6δ fully occupies the streamwise domain statistically.     

Frequency and development of slugs in a horizontal pipe at large liquid flows

The generation of slugs was studied for air–water flow in horizontal 0.0763 m and 0.095 m pipes. The emphasis was on high liquid rates (u_LS ? 0.5 m/s) for which slugs are formed close to the entry and the time intervals between slugs are stochastic. A “fully developed” slug flow is defined as consisting of slugs with different sizes interspersed in a stratified flow with a height slightly larger than the height, h₀, needed for a slug to be stable. Properties of this “fully developed” pattern are discussed. A correlation for the frequency of slugging is suggested, which describes our data as well as the data from other laboratories for a wide range of conditions. The possibility is explored that there is a further increase of slug length beyond the “fully developed” condition because slugs slowly overtake one another.     

Non-coaxiality of strain increment and stress directions in cross-anisotropic sand

An experimental program was carried out in a recently developed torsion shear apparatus to study the non-coaxiality of strain increment and stress directions in cross-anisotropic deposits of Fine Nevada sand. Forty-four drained torsion shear tests were performed at constant mean confining stress, σ_m, constant intermediate principal stress ratios, as indicated by b = (σ₂ − σ₃)/(σ₁ − σ₃), and constant principal stress directions, α. The experiments were performed on large hollow cylinder specimens deposited by dry pluviation and tested in an automated torsion shear apparatus. The specimens had height of 40 cm, and average diameter of 20 cm, and wall thickness of 2 cm. The stress–strain behavior of Fine Nevada sand is presented for discrete combinations of constant principal stress direction, α, and intermediate principal stress. The effects of these two variables on the non-coaxiality are presented. The experiments show that the directions of the strain increments do not in general coincide with the directions of stresses, and there is a switch from one to the other side between the two quantities.     

Experimental investigation of two-phase discharge from a stratified region through a small branch mounted on an inclined wall

Experimental data are presented for the mass flow rate and quality of two-phase discharge through a small branch of diameter d (=6.35 mm) attached normally to an inclined flat plane. The flat plane was situated in a large tank containing a stratified mixture of air and water under pressure (316 kPa) and at room temperature. The plane was inclined through various angles (θ) in increments of 30°, from the outlet-branch orientation being vertically upward through the horizontal to vertically downward. The bulk of the data correspond to seven inclination angles and two test-section-to-separator pressure differences (ΔP) of 11.0 and 115.5 kPa, and for each combination of θ and ΔP, the mass flow rate and quality were measured at different values of the interface level (h) between the onsets of gas and liquid entrainment. Four additional data sets were generated for other values of ΔP in order to confirm certain trends. Influences of these independent variables on the mass flow rate and quality are discussed and normalized plots are presented showing that the data can be collapsed for a wide range of conditions. Comparisons are made between the present data and previous correlations/models and new empirical correlations are formulated and shown to be capable of predicting the present data with good accuracy.     

Numerical modeling of fluid flow and heat transfer in a narrow Taylor-Couette-Poiseuille system

We consider turbulent flows in a differentially heated Taylor-Couette system with an axial Poiseuille flow. The numerical approach is based on the Reynolds Stress Modeling (RSM) of [Elena and Schiestel, 1996] and [Schiestel and Elena, 1997] widely validated in various rotor-stator cavities with throughflow ( [Poncet, 2005], [Poncet et al., 2005] and [Haddadi and Poncet, 2008]) and heat transfer (Poncet and Schiestel, 2007). To show the capability of the present code, our numerical predictions are compared very favorably to the velocity measurements of Escudier and Gouldson (1995) in the isothermal case, for both the mean and turbulent fields. The RSM model improves, in particular, the predictions of the k-ε model of Naser (1997). Then, the second order model is applied for a large range of rotational Reynolds (3744 ? Re_i ? 37,443) and Prandtl numbers (0.01 ? Pr ? 12), flow rate coefficient (0 ? C_w ? 30,000) in a very narrow cavity of radius ratio s = R_i/R_o = 0.961 and aspect ratio L = (R_o − R_i)/h = 0.013, where R_i and R_o are the radii of the inner and outer cylinders respectively and h is the cavity height. Temperature gradients are imposed between the incoming fluid and the inner and outer cylinders. The mean hydrodynamic and thermal fields reveal three distinct regions across the radial gap with a central region of almost constant axial and tangential mean velocities and constant mean temperature. Turbulence, which is weakly anisotropic, is mainly concentrated in that region and vanishes towards the cylinders. The mean velocity distributions are not clearly affected by the rotational Reynolds number and the flow rate coefficient. The effects of the flow parameters on the thermal field are more noticeable and considered in details. Correlations for the averaged Nusselt numbers along both cylinders are finally provided according to the flow control parameters Re_i, C_w, and Pr.     

Motion of singles bubbles moving under a slightly inclined surface through stationary liquids

The influence of the liquid properties on the dynamical bubble shape and on the bubble motion has been investigated for bubbles moving under a downward facing inclined surface. The Morton number Mo varied from 2.59 × 10⁻¹¹ to 2.52 × 10⁺⁰¹. The Bond number Bo covered the range from 10 to 150 and the surface inclination angle θ was varied from 2° to 6°. To cover the wide range of Mo, several liquids such as glycerine, propanediol, water and isopropanol were used. The results have shown that the relation Fr = Fr(Bo, Mo, θ) is not adequate to describe the bubble motion, where Fr is the terminal Froude number. The choice of the terminal Reynolds number Re as the dependent parameter, allowed the clarification of the role of the Morton number on the bubble motion. At a given Bond number, the bubble Reynolds number decreases monotonously with the Morton number. Furthermore, an empirical correlation Re = Re(Bo, Mo, θ) is given that can be readily used in the mathematical modelling of bubble laden flows under solids.     

Temperature correlations with vorticity and velocity in a turbulent cylinder wake

This work aims to understand the difference in the correlations between the fluctuating temperature and the vorticity from that between the fluctuating temperature and the velocity in a turbulent cylinder near wake. Measurements are made at x/d = 10, 20 and 40, where x is the streamwise distance from the cylinder axis and d is the cylinder diameter, with a Reynolds number of 2.5×10³ based on d and the free-stream velocity. The three components of the fluctuating velocity vector u_i(i = 1, 2 and 3), vorticity vector ω_i (i = 1, 2 and 3), and temperature θ in the plane of the mean shear are measured simultaneously with a multi-wire probe consisting of four X-hotwires and four cold wires. It is found that at x/d = 10, both correlations between u_iand θ and between ω_i and θ predominantly take place at St = 0.21, due to the concentric distribution of the Kármán vortices and the heat. With increasing x/d, the correlation between ω_i (i = 1, 2 and 3) and θ drops rapidly, as a result of the weakened Kármán vortices; in contrast, the correlation between u₁ and θ increases appreciably, largely due to an enhanced correlation between u₁ and θ at low frequencies or scales of motions larger than the Kármán vortex. The slowly decreasing (along x) two-point autocorrelations of u₁ and θ suggest that the very-large-scale motions (VLSMs) found in wall flows occur also in the turbulent wake and are responsible for the high correlation between u₁ and θ at low frequencies.     

Gravity-driven motion of a deformable drop or bubble near an inclined plane at low Reynolds number

The creeping motion of a three-dimensional deformable drop or bubble in the vicinity of an inclined wall is investigated by dynamical simulations using a boundary-integral method. We examine the transient and steady velocities, shapes, and positions of a freely-suspended, non-wetting drop moving due to gravity as a function of the drop-to-medium viscosity ratio, λ, the wall inclination angle from horizontal, θ, and Bond number, B, the latter which gives the relative magnitude of the buoyancy to capillary forces. For fixed λ and θ, drops and bubbles show increasingly pronounced deformation in steady motion with increasing Bond number, and a continued elongation and the possible onset of breakup are observed for sufficiently large Bond numbers. Unexpectedly, viscous drops maintain smaller separations and deform more than bubbles in steady motion at fixed Bond number over a large range of inclination angles. The steady velocities of drops (made dimensionless by the settling velocity of an isolated spherical drop) increase with increasing Bond number for intermediate-to-large inclination angles (i.e. 45° ? θ ? 75°). However, the steady drop velocity is not always an increasing function of Bond number for viscous drops at smaller inclination angles.     

Two-phase frictional pressure drop multipliers for SUVA R-134a flowing in a rectangular duct

The adiabatic two-phase frictional multipliers for SUVA, R-134a flowing in a rectangular duct (with D_H = 4.8 mm) have been measured for three nominal system pressures (0.9 MPa, T_sat = 35.5 °C; 1.38 MPa, T_sat = 51.8 °C; and 2.41 MPa, T_sat = 75.9 °C) and three nominal mass fluxes (510, 1020 and 2040 kg/m²/s). The data is compared with several classical correlations to assess their predictive capabilities. The Lockhart–Martinelli model gives reasonable results at the lowest pressure and mass flux, near the operating range of most refrigeration systems, but gives increasingly poor comparisons as the pressure and mass flux are increased. The Chisholm B-coefficient model is found to best predict the data over the entire range of test conditions; however, there is significant disagreement at the highest pressure tested (with the model over predicting the data upwards of 100% for some cases). The data shows an increased tendency toward homogeneous flow as the pressure and flow rate are increased, and in fact the homogeneous model best predicts the bulk of the data at the highest pressure tested.     

Three-phase flow and gravity drainage in porous media

We present a theoretical and experimental treatment of three-phase flow in water-wet porous media from the molecular level upwards. Many three-phase systems in polluted soil and oil reservoirs have a positive initial spreading coefficient, which means that oil spontaneously spreads as a layer between water and gas. We compute the thickness and stability of this oil layer and show that appreciable recovery of oil by drainage only occurs when the oil layer occupies crevices or roughness in the pore space. We then analyze the distribution of oil, water and gas in vertical equilibrium for a spreading system, which is governed byα=γ _ow (ρ _o ?ρ _g )/γ _go (ρ _w ?ρ _o ), whereγ _ow andγ _go are the oil/water and gas/oil interfacial tensions respectively, andρ _g ,ρ _o andρ _w are the gas, oil and water densities respectively. Ifα>1, there is a height above the oil/water contact, beyond which connected oil only exists as a molecular film, with a negligible saturation. This height is independent of the structure of the porous medium. Whenα<1, large quantities of oil remain in the pore space and gravity drainage is not efficient. If the initial spreading coefficient is negative, oil can be trapped and the recovery is also poor. We performed gravity drainage experiments in sand columns and capillary tubes which confirmed our predictions.     

An inverse dispersed multiphase flow model for liquid production rate determination

The aim of this study is to develop a model for the determination of the superficial velocities in horizontal and slightly inclined oil–water pipe flow conditions by using pressure gradient and mixture density information. In this article an inverse model is suggested for a dispersion of oil in water and of water in oil. This approach permits to select dispersed flow conditions from a set of experimental data, and uses a new hybrid model for the effective viscosity. A set of 310 oil–water experimental data points collected on an experimental set-up of length L = 15 m and diameter D = 8.28 cm at various (slight) orientations is used to validate the inverse method. The comparison between model reconstructions and measured flow velocities show a reasonable agreement.     

Experimental investigation of two-phase flow splitting in an equal-sided impacting tee junction with inclined outlets

Phase-distribution data have been generated for two-phase (air-water) flow splitting at an impacting tee junction with a horizontal inlet and inclined outlets. This investigation also considered the possibility of full separation at the junction and the effect of the outlet angle of inclination on partial separation at various inlet conditions. A flow loop with the ability to incline the outlets from horizontal to vertical was constructed. The operating conditions were as follows: test section inside diameter (D) of 13.5 mm, nominal junction pressure (P_s) of 200 kPa (abs), near ambient temperature (T_s), inlet superficial gas velocities (J_G1) ranging from 2.0 to 40 m/s, inlet superficial liquid velocities (J_L1) ranging from 0.01 to 0.18 m/s, inlet qualities (x₁) ranging from 0.1 to 0.9, mass split ratios (W₃/W₁) from 0 to 1.0, and inlet flow regimes of stratified, wavy, and annular. The data reveal that the degree of maldistribution of the phases depended on the inlet conditions, the mass split ratio at the junction, and the inclination angle of the outlets.     

Experimental investigation of the onsets of gas and liquid entrainment from a small branch mounted on an inclined wall

The phenomena of the onsets of liquid entrainment and gas entrainment were investigated experimentally for the case of a flat plane with a circular outlet branch of diameter d (=6.35 mm) at the plane centre. This flat plane was situated in a large tank containing a stratified mixture of air and water under pressure (317 kPa for most experiments and 520 kPa for a few experiments) and at room temperature. The plane was inclined through various angles (θ) in increments of 30°, from the outlet branch orientation being vertically upward through the horizontal to vertically downward. For both onsets the vertical distance between the centre of the outlet branch and the undisturbed gas–liquid interface (h) was measured for various angles of inclination and Froude numbers. Both onsets were observed visually through a large viewing part of the test section. It was found that for both onsets there is a range of inclination angles where the onset h depended on θ and a range where the onset h essentially did not depend on θ. The data were correlated in terms of onset h/d, Froude number, and θ where there was dependence of onset h on the angle of inclination.     

Delay in response of turbulent heat transfer against acceleration or deceleration of flow in a pipe

To predict the heat transfer enhancements that result from the application of a pulsating flow in a pipe, we experimentally investigated the turbulent heat transfer variations produced in response to sudden accelerations or decelerations to flows within a pipe. To accomplish this, the Reynolds numbers with the valve open (Re₁) and close (Re₀) were systematically varied in the range of 8,000 ≤ Re₁ ≤ 34,000 and 700 ≤ Re₀ ≤ 23,000, respectively, and in-pipe spatiotemporal heat transfer variations were measured using infrared thermography simultaneously with temporal variations to the in-pipe flow properties. Based on the experimental results, it was found that the heat transfer delays that occur in response to accelerations or decelerations can be characterized using the corresponding time lag Δt and first-order time constant τ. The values of Δt and τ can be expressed as non-dimensional forms of Δt/(ν/u_τ²) and τ/(R/u_τ), respectively, where u_τ is the pipe wall friction velocity, ν is the kinematic viscosity of the fluid, and R is the pipe radius.     

Comment on “Correlation of entrainment for annular flow in horizontal pipes”, by Pan,L., Hanratty,T.J., Int. J. Multiphase flow, 28(3), (2002), pp. 385–408

The above referenced paper, published in International Journal of Multiphase Flow (Pan and Hanratty, 2002), proposed an entrainment fraction correlation for annular flow in horizontal pipes. The entrainment fraction in annular flow is defined as the ratio of the mass flow rate of the liquid droplets in the gas to the total mass flow of liquid, F_E = W_LE/W_L. The proposed correlation was verified with experimental data for liquids with viscosities close to that of water. The proposed entrainment fraction correlation includes another correlation for the critical film flow rate, W_F,cr to estimate a maximum entrainment fraction F_E,max. It is shown that the critical film flow rate correlation can result in negative maximum entrainment fraction values, for low liquid flow rates.     

Bubbly flow measurements in hydraulic jumps with small inflow Froude numbers

The transition from supercritical to subcritical open channel flow is characterised by a strong dissipative mechanism called a hydraulic jump. A hydraulic jump is turbulent and associated with the development of large-scale turbulence and air entrainment. In the present study, some new physical experiments were conducted to characterise the bubbly flow region of hydraulic jumps with relatively small Froude numbers (2.4 < Fr₁ < 5.1) and relatively large Reynolds numbers (6.6 × 10⁴ < Re < 1.3 × 10⁵). The shape of the time-averaged free-surface profiles was well defined and the longitudinal profiles were in agreement with visual observations. The turbulent free-surface fluctuation profiles exhibited a peak of maximum intensity in the first half of the hydraulic jump roller, and the fluctuations exhibited some characteristic frequencies typically below 3 Hz. The air–water flow properties showed two characteristic regions: the shear layer region in the lower part of the flow and an upper free-surface region above. The air–water shear layer region was characterised by local maxima in terms of void fraction and bubble count rate. Other air–water flow characteristics were documented including the distributions of interfacial velocity and turbulence intensity. The probability distribution functions (PDF) of bubble chord time showed that the bubble chord times exhibited a broad spectrum, with a majority of bubble chord times between 0.5 and 2 ms. An analysis of the longitudinal air–water structure highlighted a significant proportion of bubbles travelling within a cluster structure.     

Drag law for monodisperse gas–solid systems using particle-resolved direct numerical simulation of flow past fixed assemblies of spheres

Gas–solid momentum transfer is a fundamental problem that is characterized by the dependence of normalized average fluid–particle force F on solid volume fraction ? and the Reynolds number based on the mean slip velocity Re_m. In this work we report particle-resolved direct numerical simulation (DNS) results of interphase momentum transfer in flow past fixed random assemblies of monodisperse spheres with finite fluid inertia using a continuum Navier–Stokes solver. This solver is based on a new formulation we refer to as the Particle-resolved Uncontaminated-fluid Reconcilable Immersed Boundary Method (PUReIBM). The principal advantage of this formulation is that the fluid stress at the particle surface is calculated directly from the flow solution (velocity and pressure fields), which when integrated over the surfaces of all particles yields the average fluid–particle force. We demonstrate that PUReIBM is a consistent numerical method to study gas–solid flow because it results in a force density on particle surfaces that is reconcilable with the averaged two-fluid theory. The numerical convergence and accuracy of PUReIBM are established through a comprehensive suite of validation tests. The normalized average fluid–particle force F is obtained as a function of solid volume fraction ? (0.1 ? ? ? 0.5) and mean flow Reynolds number Re_m (0.01 ? Re_m ? 300) for random assemblies of monodisperse spheres. These results extend previously reported results of  and  to a wider range of ?, Re_m, and are more accurate than those reported by Beetstra et al. (2007). Differences between the drag values obtained from PUReIBM and the drag correlation of Beetstra et al. (2007) are as high as 30% for Re_m in the range 100–300. We take advantage of PUReIBM’s ability to directly calculate the relative contributions of pressure and viscous stress to the total fluid–particle force, which is useful in developing drag correlations. Using a scaling argument, Hill et al. (2001b) proposed that the viscous contribution is independent of Re_m but the pressure contribution is linear in Re_m (for Re_m > 50). However, from PUReIBM simulations we find that the viscous contribution is not independent of the mean flow Reynolds number, although the pressure contribution does indeed vary linearly with Re_m in accord with the analysis of Hill et al. (2001b). An improved correlation for F in terms of ? and Re_m is proposed that corrects the existing correlations in Re_m range 100–300. Since this drag correlation has been inferred from simulations of fixed particle assemblies, it does not include the effect of mobility of the particles. However, the fixed-bed simulation approach is a good approximation for high Stokes number particles, which are encountered in most gas–solid flows. This improved drag correlation can be used in CFD simulations of fluidized beds that solve the average two-fluid equations where the accuracy of the drag law affects the prediction of overall flow behavior.     

Temporal stability of a particle-laden jet

The temporal instability of a particle-laden jet was investigated numerically which took into consideration the parametric effects of jet parameter, B, jet Reynolds number, Re_j, particle mass loading, Z and Stokes number, St. The linear stability theory was used to derive the instability equations of a viscous particle-laden jet flow. The single-phase instability of a top-hat jet was then calculated and compared with the available analytical theories. The numerical results agree well with the analytical results for both the axisymmetric (n = 0) and first azimuthal (n = 1) modes. The results show that the first azimuthal mode disturbance is usually more unstable than that of the axisymmetric mode. But the axisymmetric mode disturbance can be more unstable when Z is high enough (i.e., Z ? 0.1). The higher B and Re_j are, the more unstable the particle-laden jet will be. The existence of particles enhances the flow stability. With the increasing of Z, the jet flow will grow more stable. The inviscid single-phase jet is the most unstable. The wave amplification, c_i first decreases with the increasing of St and then increases afterwards. There exist certain values of St, at which the jet is the most stable.