Advanced tomographic imaging for multi-phase flow investigations in industrial apparatuses

Investigations on two- and multiphase flow phenomena inside technical apparatuses or feedings are of highest interest for designers and operators since the knowledge helps to understand the fundamental physics behind processes, e.g. in chemical and process engineering. It expedites the development of safer and more efficiently operated industrial facilities. Furthermore, measured data are used to validate new models developed for multiphase flow simulation, e.g. CFD. For non-intrusive two-phase flow investigations, two radiation-based computed tomography (CT) scanners are operated at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden - Rossendorf (HZDR) at the department of Fluid Dynamics: a high-resolution gamma-ray computed tomography scanner (HireCT) and an ultrafast electron beam X-ray CT scanner (ROFEX). They are able to recover non-superimposed cross-sectional material distributions of the scanned plane or volume section within the flow as time averaged images or time resolved image sequences. The capabilities of both CT systems are demonstrated exemplarily at experiments on an industrial scale bubble column, a fluidized bed and a static mixer.