Linear stability in the flow of a liquid film concurrent with a gas flow

The two-phase flow of liquid films are often encountered in practice, but the number of theoretical papers devoted to this problem is limited. The problem of the linear stability of a viscous liquid film subjected to a gas flow has been formulated in [1] and, in somewhat different form, in [2]. The linear stability of plane-parallel motion in films has been studied analytically in [1–8] for some limiting cases. The range of validity of the analytic approaches remains an open question. Therefore, an exact numerical analysis of flow stability over a fairly broad range is required. In the present paper a separate solution of the problem for the gas and the liquid is shown to be possible. The Orr-Sommerfeld equation has been integrated numerically, and the results are compared to the results of analytic calculations.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 1, pp. 143–146, January–February, 1976.The author is grateful to É. É. Markovich for directing the work and to V. Ya. Shkadov for his interest in the work and many useful comments.     

Wave flow of a liquid film together with a flow of gas

The wave flow of a thin layer of viscous liquid in conjunction with a flow of gas was considered in a linear formulation earlier [1, 2]. In this paper the problem of the wave flow of a liquid film together with a gas flow is solved in a nonlinear setting. On this basis relationships are derived for calculating the parameters of the film and the hydrodynamic quantities.Ivanovo. Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 1, pp. 12–18, January–February, 1972.     

Wavy flow of a liquid film in the presence of a cocurrent turbulent gas flow

Wavy downflow of viscous liquid films in the presence of a cocurrent turbulent gas flow is analyzed theoretically. The parameters of two-dimensional steady-state traveling waves are calculated for wide ranges of liquid Reynolds number and gas flow velocity. The hydrodynamic characteristics of the liquid flow are computed using the full Navier-Stokes equations. The wavy interface is regarded as a small perturbation, and the equations for the gas are linearized in the vicinity of the main turbulent flow. Various optimal film flow regimes are obtained for the calculated nonlinear waves branching from the plane-parallel flow. It is shown that for high velocities of the cocurrent gas flow, the calculated wave characteristics correspond to those of ripple waves observed in experiments.     

Experimental study on surface wave and film breakdown of falling liquid film flow

In order to evaluate characteristics of the liquid film flow and their influences on heat and mass transfer, measurements of the instantaneous film thickness using a capacitance method and observation of film breakdown are performed. Experimental results are reported in the paper. Experiments are carried out at Re = 250–10000, T _in = 20–50°C and three axial positions of vertically falling liquid films for film thickness measurements. Instantaneous surface waveshapes are given by the interpretation of the test data using the cubic spline method. The correlation of the mean film thickness versus the film Reynolds number is also given by fitting the test data. It is revealed that the surface wave has nonlinear behavior. Observation of film breakdown is performed at Re = 1.40 × 10³–1.75 × 10⁴ and T _in = 85–95°C. From experimental results, the correlation of the film breakdown criterion can be obtained as follows: Bd = 1.567 × 10⁻⁶ Re ^1.183     

Dynamics of a finite-width liquid film in a co-current microchannel gas flow

The velocity fields and the parameters of a finite-width liquid film moving along the bottom of a mini- and a microchannel under the action of a gas flow are calculated. The investigations are performed for different levels of gravity. It is found that the thin liquid film distorts the velocity field in the gaseous phase. In contrast to the minichannel flow, in the microchannel the film surface is not leveled with increase in the gravity force.     

Two-phase flow over a surface with the formation of a liquid film by particle deposition

A consistent asymptotic theory of wall flow with film formation is constructed with reference to subsonic two-phase flow over a blunt body. The external flow problem and the film equations are solved simultaneously. This formulation of the problem supplements the investigation carried out in [4] in which particles deposited on the surface were assumed to disappear from the flow. It is shown that depending on the values of the governing parameters the flow in the film should be described either by the boundary layer equations or by the equations of creeping flow in a layer of unknown thickness. At the outer edge of the film the mass, momentum and energy fluxes found from the numerical solution of the flow problem are given. The case of isothermal film flow on the front of a sphere is investigated. The thickness of the film and the friction and heat transfer coefficients near the axis of symmetry are found for nonisothermal flows. The conditions under which the presence of a film significantly reduces the heat flow to the wall are determined. A similar formulation of the problem (but with another type of mass, momentum and energy sources at the outer edge) is encountered in problems of film condensation on a cold surface [5, 6].Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 4, pp. 85–92, July–August, 1989.     

Characteristics of normal and tangential forces acting on a single lug during translational motion in sandy soil

Lugs (i.e., grousers) are routinely attached to the surfaces of wheels/tracks of mobile robots to enhance their ability to traverse loose sandy terrain. Much previous work has focused on how lug shape, e.g., height, affects performance; however, the goal of this study is to experimentally confirm the effects of lug motion on lug–soil forces. We measured normal and tangential forces acting on a single lug as functions of inclination angle, moving direction angle, sinkage length, horizontal displacement, and traveling speed. The experimental results were mathematically fitted by using least square method to facilitate quantitative analyses on effects of changes in these motion parameters. Moreover, we compared the measured tangential forces to values calculated from a conventional tangential force model to evaluate the effects of the lug-tip surface, which is generally ignored in existing terramechanics models. The conclusions from this study would be useful for estimating the traveling performance of locomotive mechanisms equipped with lugs, modeling interaction mechanics between lugged wheels and soil, etc.     

Characteristics of solitary waves on a falling liquid film sheared by a turbulent counter-current gas flow

We report an experimental investigation of a falling water film sheared by a turbulent counter-current air flow in an inclined rectangular channel. Film thickness and wave velocity measurements associated with visual observation are conducted to study the influence of the air flow on controlled traveling waves consisting of a large wave hump preceded by capillary ripples. First, we focus on the variation of the shape, amplitude and velocity of the waves as the gas velocity is gradually increased. We demonstrate that the amplitude of the main hump grows substantially even for moderate gas velocities, whereas modification of the wave celerity becomes significant above a specific gas velocity around 4 m/s, associated with an alteration of the capillary region. The influence of the gas flow on 3D secondary instabilities of the solitary waves detected in a previous study Kofman et al. (2014), namely rugged or scallop waves, is also investigated. We show that the capillary mode is damped while the inertial mode is enhanced by the interfacial shear. Next, the gas velocity is increased until the onset of upstream-moving patterns referred to as flooding in our experiments. At moderate inclination angles (typically < 7 ^○), flooding occurs for a gas velocity around 8 m/s and is initiated at the scallop wave crests by a backward wave-breaking phenomenon preceded by the onset of ripples on the flat residual film separating two waves. At high inclination angle, a rapid development of solitons is observed as the air velocity is increased preventing the waves to turn back. Finally, at high liquid Reynolds number, sudden and intermittent events are triggered consisting of very large amplitude waves that go back upwards very fast. These “slugs” either extend over the whole width of the channel or are very localized and can thus potentially evolve towards atomization.     

Linear and nonlinear stability of combined plane-parallel flow of a film of liquid and gas

The problem of the linear stability of a layer of liquid entrained by a gas has been investigated for some special cases in [1–7]. In [8], the linear problem was solved numerically and the solution compared with some analytic solutions for special cases of the flow. In the present paper, the results of linear analysis are presented more comprehensively; the problem of finite-amplitude stability of the film is posed and solved numerically; the results of the linear and nonlinear analysis are compared with data of an experiment performed by the authors and by other experimentalists.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 1, pp. 36–42, January–February, 1979.We are grateful to V. Ya. Shkadov for supervising the work, to all the participants of G. I. Petrov's seminar for helpful discussion, and also to E. L. Kokon for assistance in evaluating the experimental data.     

Advective flow in a rotating liquid film

This paper presents a new exact solution of the Navier–Stokes equations in the Boussinesq approximation that describes thermocapillary advective flow in a slowly rotating horizontal layer of incompressible fluid with free boundaries. Such flow occurs in the case of linear temperature distribution over horizontal coordinates or in the case of heat flux distribution at the layer boundaries. The influence of the Taylor, Marangoni, Grashof, and Biot numbers on the flow and temperature velocity profiles is studied.     

Instability of a film of viscous liquid under the influence of an adjacent gas flow

A study is made of the instability of a film of viscous liquid adjacent to a gas flow. Despite a number of investigations, there is no unified theory of this problem capable of explaining the experimental results of different authors. The present paper gives a solution of the problem that is valid for a large class of flows of liquid films in the case of laminar and turbulent flow of the gas.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 2, pp. 28–36, March–April, 1979.     

Optical measurement of liquid film thickness and wave velocity in liquid film flows

Two optical techniques are described for measurement of a liquid film's surface. Both techniques make use of the total internal reflection which occurs at a liquid-vapor interface due to the refractive index difference between a liquid and a vapor. The first technique is used for film thickness determination. A video camera records the distance between a light source and the rays which are reflected back from the liquid-vapor interface. This distance can be shown to be linearly proportional to film thickness. The second technique measures surface wave velocities. Two photo sensors, spaced a fixed distance apart, are used to record the time varying intensity of light reflected from the liquid-vapor interface. The velocity is then deduced from the time lag between the two signals.The authors appreciate the support of the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign under project 45.     

Primary instabilities of liquid film flow sheared by turbulent gas stream

Evolution of excited waves on a viscous liquid film has been investigated experimentally for the annular gas–liquid flow in a vertical tube. For the first time the dispersion relations are obtained experimentally for linear waves on liquid film surface in the presence of turbulent gas flow. Both cocurrent and countercurrent flow regimes are investigated. As an example of comparison with theory, the experimental data are compared to the results of calculations based on the Benjamin quasi-laminar model for turbulent gas flow. The calculation results are found to be in good agreement with experiments for moderate values of film Reynolds number.     

A three-parameter model describing the behaviour of a viscoelastic liquid in a tangential annular flow

A three-parameter model describing the shear rate-shear stress relation of viscoelastic liquids and in which each parameter has a physical significance, is applied to a tangential annular flow in order to calculate the velocity profile and the shear rate distribution. Experiments were carried out with a 5000 wppm aqueous solution of polyacrylamide and different types of rheometers. In a shear-rate range of seven decades (5 10^–3 s^–1 < < 1.2 10⁵ s^–1) a good agreement is obtained between apparent viscosities calculated with our model and those measured with three different types of rheometers, i.e. Couette rheometers, a cone-and-plate rheogoniometer and a capillary tube rheometer. a physical quantity defined by:a = {1 – ( / ₀)}/ ₀ (Pa^–1) - C constant of integration (1) - r distancer from the center (m) - r ₁,r ₂ radius of the inner and outer cylinder (m) - v _r local tangential velocity at a distancer from the center (v _r = _r r) (m s^–1) - v ₂ local tangential velocity at a distancer ₂ from the center (m s^–1) - shear rate (s^–1) - local shear rate (s^–1) - ₁ wall shear rate at the inner cylinder (s^–1) - dynamic viscosity (Pa s) - _a apparent viscosity (_a = / ) (Pa s) - _a1 apparent viscosity at the inner cylinder (Pa s) - ₀ zero-shear viscosity (Pa s) - infinite-shear viscosity (Pa s) - shear stress (Pa) - _r local shear stress at a distancer from the center (Pa) - ₀ yield stress (Pa) - ₁, ₂ wall shear-stress at the inner and outer cylinder (Pa) - _r local angular velocity (s^–1) - ₂ angular velocity of the outer cylinder (s^–1)     

Mass transfer with gas desorption from the surface of a liquid film in the presence of a cocurrent flow

Results of a thcoretical and experimental study of dynamics and mass transfer during desorption of a gas from a liquid film in the presence of a cocurrent air flow are presented. The calculation model is based on solving integral momentum and diffusion relations for the gaseous and liquid phascs. Both laminar and turbulent regimes of the film flow are analyzed. The experimental study of mass transfer was conducted for carbon dioxide desorption from a water film. Criterial relations for mass transfer in the gaseous and liquid phases are obtained. The experiments showed that the heat-transfer coefficients for the case under study are one order of magnitude grcater than those for the flow of a smooth film. Possible mechanisms of such an appreciable intensification of the liquid-film mass transfer in a cocurrent gas flow are discussed. Kutateladze Institute of Thermal Physics, Siberian Division, Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk 630090. Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 41, No. 4, pp. 131–138, July–August, 2000.     

Effect of gas pulsation on long slugs in horizontal gas–liquid pipe flow

Long liquid slugs reaching a length of several hundreds of pipe diameter may appear when transporting gas and liquid in horizontal or nearly horizontal pipelines. These long slugs may cause system vibration, separator flooding, and operational problems for the downstream processing facilities. Although mainly short hydrodynamic slugs have been observed in offshore gas and oil production fields over the past years, the appearance of the long slugs is becoming more common as many production fields are now more mature and reach end of field life, giving reduced production rates and reduced operational pressure.