The evaluation of interfacial area concentration weighted area-averaged gas velocity based on the extended drift-flux model

Abstract

The interfacial area transport equation (IATE) is a more accurate and stable way to compute the interfacial area concentration than the empirical correlation, and the interfacial area concentration weighted area-averaged gas velocity is an important parameter to close the one-dimensional IATE. However, there has been no theoretical model for it in open literature until now. To fill this gap, the theoretical model of interfacial area concentration weighted area-averaged gas velocity based on the drift-flux model is developed in this work, which is named the extended drift-flux model. Meanwhile, interfacial area concentration weighted area-averaged gas velocity is evaluated based on the extended drift-flux model. And the evaluation is validated with the experimental data of vertical bubbly flow and vertical slug flow in the adiabatic pipe. This work is meaningful for the implementation of IATE in the one-dimensional two-fluid model (1-D TFM) and the computation of the area-averaged interfacial area concentration.