Vertical slug flow in laminar regime in the liquid and turbulent regime in the bubble wake - Comparison with fully turbulent and fully laminar regimes

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2008

Authors

Mayor, TS (Author) Other; Pinto, AMFR (Author) FEUP; Campos, JBLM (Author) FEUP

Journal

Title: Chemical Engineering Science

Vol. 63 No. 21

Pages: 3614-3631

ISSN: 0009-2509

Publisher: Elsevier

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 20 Citations

ISI Web of Science

Scopus - 24 Citations

Scientific classification

FOS: Engineering and technology > Chemical engineering

CORDIS: Technological sciences > Technology > Chemical technology

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-003-XR1

DOI: 10.1016/j.ces.2008.04.020

Abstract (EN): An experimental and simulation study on free bubbling vertical slug flow in laminar regime in the main liquid and turbulent regime in the near-wake bubble region is reported. A non-intrusive image analysis technique and a previously developed slug flow simulator (SFS) were used. Two aqueous glycerol solutions (0.012-0.013 and 0.022 Pa s) were studied. A single bubble-to-bubble interaction curve was obtained. Strong interaction was found for bubbles flowing less than 3-4D apart, with slight interaction persisting for longer distances. The shape of the interaction curve bridges those for fully turbulent and fully laminar regimes. The experimental average bubble velocity in undisturbed conditions was shown not to follow the correlation-based predictions for laminar regime in the liquid. Alternative fitting coefficients are proposed. An entrance length of 50-80D (or 90-170D) was obtained for normal inlet slug length distributions centred on 2-5D (or 2-6D), for superficial gas and liquid velocities up to 0.40 and 0.30 m/s, respectively. More contrasting inlet slug length distributions were found not to converge within the length of the column (6.5 m). An overall comparison between the three regimes is presented.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 18