Investigations on bubbly two-phase flow in a constricted vertical pipe

• Published in: International journal of multiphase flow Vol. 130; p. 103340
• Main Authors: Neumann-Kipping, Martin, Bieberle, André, Hampel, Uwe
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01-09-2020
• Subjects: Bubbly flow; Computed tomography; Experimental benchmark data; Flow constriction; Gas-liquid two-phase flow; Three-dimensional flow; Flow constriction; Gas-liquid two-phase flow; Experimental benchmark data; Bubbly flow; Computed tomography; Three-dimensional flow
• ISSN: 0301-9322; 1879-3533
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijmultiphaseflow.2020.103340

•Experimental benchmark data of 3D gas-liquid two-phase flow fields in a pipe•Flow field analyses of two flow constrictions halving the pipes cross-section•Ultrafast X-ray imaging for investigations on phase distributions and bubble sizes•Enhanced CT data processing suppresses image artifacts effectively•Flow field analysis for constant gas and various liquid superficial velocities
We report on an experimental investigation of adiabatic bubbly two-phase flow development in a DN50 pipe with a ring-shaped and a baffle-shaped constriction at different superficial velocities of gas (up to jg = 0.1400 m·s−1) and liquid (up to jl = 1.6110 m·s-1) using ultrafast electron beam X-ray computed tomography (UFXCT). From UFXCT images, cross-sectional gas holdup distributions were obtained with a temporal resolution of up to 2,500 frames per second in 18 scanning planes along the pipe. A sophisticated data processing approach was applied to extract gas holdup data immediately from the two-phase flow image stack. Based on that, time-averaged gas holdup of the cross-section and the axial center of the pipe were calculated. In addition, bubble sizes and velocities were determined.