Experimental Investigation of Pressure Drop during Two-Phase Flow in a Coiled Flow Inverter

Abstract

Experimental investigation of the pressure drop for a gas−liquid two-phase flow system was conducted in an innovative device known as a coiled flow inverter (CFI). This configuration consists of helical coils with equispaced 90° bends introduced at specific intervals in the coils. The idea is to create random mixing in a cross-sectional plane because of helical coils and complete flow inversion via the insertion of bends. The coils were prepared using a tube for which the following parameters were varied: internal diameter (0.005−0.015 m); curvature ratio, which is defined as coil diameter/tube diameter (6.7−20); pitch (1−2.5); and number of bends (1−15). The liquid flow rate was varied from 3.33 × 10-6 m3/s to 1 × 10-3 m3/s, and the gas flow rate was changed from 8.33 × 10-5 m3/s to 1 × 10-3 m3/s. Sixteen CFIs of different geometric configurations were tested. Comparison of the two-phase friction factor with that of different geometries, such as straight tube and straight helix for single-phase and two-...