Analytic study of developing flows in a tube laden with non-evaporating and evaporating drops via a modified linearization of the two-phase momentum equations

Abstract

A novel modification of the classical Langhaar linearization of the mutually coupled momentum equations for developing two-phase flows in circular ducts is presented. This modification enables us to treat: (i) flows developing from spatially periodic initial velocity distributions without the presence of droplets, and (ii) two-phase flows in which monosize, non-evaporating and evaporating droplets suspended in a developing gas flow of an initially uniform velocity distribution exchange momentum with the host-gas flow. New solutions are presented for the downstream evolution in the velocity profiles which develop from spatially periodic initial velocity distributions that eventually reach the fully developed Poiseuille velocity profile. These solutions are validated by employing known numerical procedures, providing strong support for the physical underpinnings of the present modified linearization. New solutions are also presented for the evolution in drop velocities and vapour spatial distributions for evaporating droplets suspended in an initially uniform velocity profile of the host gas. Asymptotic solutions are presented for the flow region which lies very close to the inlet of the tube, where the relative velocity between the droplets and the host gas is high, and thus the velocity fields of the two phases are mutually coupled. These solutions provide new explicit formulae for the droplet velocity field as a function of the initial conditions and droplet diameter (relative to the tube diameter) for non-evaporating drops, and also as a function of evaporation rate for evaporating drops.