Experimental Investigation on Air-Water Two Phase Flow and Transition Phenomenon in Capillary Channel

Abstract

Experimental study on the air-water two-phase flow using mini-channel with diameter of 1.6 mm has been studied experimentally in order to understand the flow characteristics in a mini-channel. In this experiment air and water were mixed in the mixing chamber. The air superficial velocity $\pmb{J}_{G}$ were varied between 0.025 – 66.3 m/s and water superficial velocity $\pmb{J}_{L}$ were 0.033 – 4.935 m/s by using control valve. The air and water flow were monitored by using flow meter. Two phase flow phenomena in the mini-channel were captured by using a high-speed camera and the result shows that within the ranges of air and water superficial velocity., bubbly and slug flow patterns were predominantly observed. Small dispersed, elongated., wavy and bubble with tail was also observed from the experiments. It was also found that the bubble geometry in capillary channel was affected by the flow parameter. Investigation on the bubble frequency shows that the variation of $\pmb{J}_{L}$ affect the bubble frequency significantly.