Investigation on two-phase distribution in a vibrating annulus

Abstract

Seismic vibration can induce additional interphase forces acting on bubbles and change flow characteristics in two-phase flow system. Local measurements of air-water two-phase flow parameters, namely void fraction, interfacial area concentration and Sauter mean diameter, were conducted in a vibrating annulus. The vibration acceleration ranged from 0.05g to 0.24g. Nine inlet flow conditions were selected, which covered bubbly and slug flows. No significant difference was observed in the time-averaged flow parameters between reference and vibration experiments. During vibration cycle, the radial two-phase flow distribution varied continuously with vibration phase. The change in non-dimensional line-averaged void fraction decreased with the increase of void fraction. As the vibration amplitude increased from 3.04mm to 10.08mm, the vibration effects on variations of local flow parameters were greatly enhanced with the mean relative variation (MRV) of void faction reached up to 55%. The study on MRV of local parameters showed that the vibration effects were strongly related to specific flow conditions. With the increase of superficial gas velocity and void fraction, the vibration effects were reduced and the MRV of void fraction decreased from 55% to 18%.