Compressibility effects on waves in stratified two-phase flow

Ardron (1980) presented both one-dimensional and two-dimensional analyses of wave propagation in horizontal stratified two-phase flow. He compared the two approaches and concluded that the comparison helped to improve confidence in the use of one-dimensional approximations for the analysis of complex systems such as nuclear reactors.There are several assumptions in Ardron's developments. When alternative assumptions are made the results change. By examining the consequences of several possible assumptions we have learned from this example that considerable care may be necessary in the reduction of a multi-dimensional two-phase flow problem to a simpler form.This paper presents a more complete two-dimensional solution of this problem and discusses the limitations of the approximate solutions.