Behaviour of liquid films and flooding in counter-current two-phase flow—Part 1. Flow in circular tubes

Experimental results are presented on the flooding gas velocity in tubes over a wide range of parameters—tube diameter, tube length, liquid flow rate, liquid viscosity and surface tension. The flooding phenomenon is caused by interaction between the waves on the liquid film and the upward gas stream. By measuring variation of the maximum height of the wavy liquid films with an increase of the gas flow rate, the complicated effects of tube length and surface tension on flooding are revealed. The data of the flooding velocity are empirically correlated in termes of nondimensional groups for each tube length.