Experimental investigation of a developing two-phase bubbly flow in horizontal pipe

Abstract

Experimental results for various water and air superficial velocities in developing adiabatic horizontal two-phase pipe flow are presented. Flow pattern maps derived from videos exhibit a new boundary line in intermittent regime. This transition from water dominant to water–gas coordinated regimes corresponds to a new transition criterion CT=2, derived from a generalized representation with the dimensionless coordinates of Taitel and Dukler.Velocity, turbulent kinetic energy and dissipation rate, void fraction and bubble size radial profiles measured at 40 pipe diameters for JL=4.42m/s by hot film velocimetry and optical probes confirm this transition: the gas influence is not continuous but strongly increases beyond JG=0.06m/s. The maximum dissipation rate, derived from spectra, is increased in two-phase flow by a factor 5 with respect to the single phase case.The axial evolution of the bubble intercept length histograms also reveal the flow organization in horizontal layers, driven by buoyancy effects. Bubble coalescence is attested by a maximum bubble intercept evolving from 2.5 to 4.5mm along the pipe. Turbulence generated by the bubbles is also manifest by the 4-fold increase of the maximum turbulent dissipation rate along the pipe.