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Development of co-current air-water flow in a vertical pipe

Lucas, D.; Krepper, E.; Prasser, H.-M.

Measurements of the cross sectional distribution of gas fraction and bubble size distributions were conducted in a vertical pipe with an inner diameter of 51.2 mm and a length of about 3 m for air/water bubbly and slug flow. The use of a wire-mesh sensor allows a high resolution of the gas fraction data in space as well as in time. From these data time averaged values for the two-dimensional gas fraction profiles decomposed according to a large number of bubble size classes were calculated. This allows to extract data for the radial gas fraction profiles for a given range of bubble sizes as well as data for local bubble size distributions. The structure of the flow is characterized by these data. The measurements were done for up to 10 different inlet lengths and for about 100 combinations of gas and liquid volume flow rates. The data are very useful for the development and validation of meso-scale models for the forces acting on a bubble in a shear field of the liquid flow and models for bubble coalescence and break-up. Such models are necessary for the qualification of CFD codes for the simulation of bubbly flows.

Keywords: bubble flow; vertical pipe flow; experimental database; bubble size distribution

  • International Journal of Multiphase Flow 31(2005), 1304-1328

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-7070
Publ.-Id: 7070