A comparative study of magnetic resonance imaging, electrical impedance tomography and ultrasonic doppler velocimetry for semi-dilute fibre flow suspension characterisation

Abstract

Experimental comparisons between imaging techniques serve to provide confidence in the validity of each technique for the study of multiphase flow systems. Such cross-validation can establish the limitations of each technique quantitatively. In the present paper, the authors report efforts made on the characterization of semi-dilute, mono-dispersed suspensions of rayon fibres in turbulent water flow using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Ultrasound Velocity Profiling (UVP) and Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT). Increasing flow velocities and fibre concentration were studied using these three experimental techniques. For lower fibre concentrations more uniform distributions were observed and as flow velocity increased fibre agglomerations were found in the centre region of the pipe.