Experimental and numerical investigation of isothermal ice slurry flow

Abstract

The characteristics of propylene glycol ice slurry flow through a long horizontal pipe (L/D ≈ 177) were investigated experimentally for flow rates between 1 and 38 kg/min and ice fractions of 5%–24% by mass. Pressure losses in the tube, inlet and outlet densities, temperatures and mass flowrates of the ice slurry were measured and analyzed. A 3D CFD model which treats the ice slurry as a Newtonian fluid with effective properties depending on the local ice fraction and includes the shear-induced migration as well as the hindered settling velocity is also presented. It has been validated for laminar and turbulent conditions with data from the literature. The calculated pressure drop is in good agreement with experimental data from the present and previous studies. The proposed model has therefore been used to establish some important ice slurry flow characteristics which have never been obtained experimentally. Notably, the calculated results illustrate the axial and circumferential variation of the friction coefficient and explain its angular variation by analyzing the predicted ice fraction and velocity fields. The effects of the inlet ice fraction on these fields are also illustrated and analyzed.