Choking flow modeling with mechanical non-equilibrium for two-phase two-component flow

Abstract

A mechanistic model which considers the mechanical non-equilibrium is described for two-phase choking flow. The choking mass flux is obtained from the momentum equation with the definition of choking. The key parameter for the mechanical non-equilibrium is a slip ratio. The dependent parameters for the slip ratio are identified. In this research, the slip ratio which is defined in the drift flux model is used to identify the impact parameters on the slip ratio. Because the slip ratio in the drift flux model is related to the distribution parameter and drift velocity, the adequate correlations depending on the flow regime are introduced in this study. In this mechanistic modeling approach, the choking mass flow rate is expressed by the function of pressure, quality and slip ratio. The developed model is evaluated by comparing with the air–water experimental data to eliminate the thermal effect. The comparison of predicted choking model for mechanical non-equilibrium with other experimental data in high quality region (up to 80%) is quite reasonable with a small error.