The effect of flow pattern on split of two-phase flow through a micro-T-junction

Abstract

An experiment has been carried out to study the phase split of water–nitrogen two-phase flow through a horizontal T-junction with a square cross section (500 μm × 500 μm), focusing on the effect of flow pattern. By comparing the results of slug, slug–annular and annular flows, it is shown that phase split characteristic of micro-T-junction highly depends on inlet flow pattern. When the inlet flow is a slug flow, it takes on gas rich in side branch. But when the inlet flow shifts to an annular flow, the side branch is rich in liquid. For an slug–annular flow, the curves show transitional characteristics. The effect of superficial velocities on the phase split of each flow pattern is considered as following: the liquid taken off decreases with an increase of liquid superficial velocity and increases with an increase of gas superficial velocity. The results have been compared to that of a 500 μm T-junction with a circular cross section. It is found that the square T-junction shows more liquid taken off at slug flow and slug–annular flow. While, at annular flow, the liquid taken off increases slower at high gas taken off in square T-junction due to cross section effect.