Two-phase flow measurements with ultrafast X-ray tomography

Ultrafast X-ray tomography provides a means for the contactless high-resolution scanning of multiphase flows. In the current version the technique is able to scan flows in vessels of up to 160 mm diameter with scan rates of several thousand frames per second, a nominal spatial resolution of around one millimeter and in two consecutive planes. One of the main advantages is that two-phase flows in opaque and complex structures can be disclosed.
A challenging subject in the frame of ultrafast X-ray tomography is data processing and analysis. The high scanning rates yield large data sets and automated image processing must be applied to extract typical hydrodynamic parameters of interest, such as gas hold-up profiles, bubble and particle size distributions and velocities and interfacial area. On the other hand it is difficult to obtain some parameters from the continuous phase, such as continuous phase velocities or turbulence parameters. Here combination of different measurement techniques has further potential.
The presentation will provide an overview over the capacities and limits of ultrafast X-ray tomography by discussing different two-phase flow problems with increasing complexity: two-phase flow in vertical pipes, slurry bubble columns and static mixers. Moreover different image processing and data analysis techniques will be introduced and discussed in detail.