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An investigation of flow orientation on air–water two-phase flow in circular minichannel

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Abstract

Experimental investigations to establish the effect of flow orientations on gas–liquid two-phase flow patterns in minichannel is reported. Experimental test setup involves entry of air and water into the main channel through Y-junction inlet. Flow patterns are visualized for horizontal (0°), vertical (90°) upward, downward and angular (±30°, ±45°, ±60°) orientations of the channel. The visualized images are utilized for establishing flow pattern maps for all the orientations. A comparative analysis of flow patterns for all the orientations reveal the influence of gravity in the surface tension dominating regimes of the flow.

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Abbreviations

Bo:

Bond number \( {\text{Bo}} = \left( {\frac{{g\left( {\rho_{L} - \rho_{G} } \right)D_{h}^{2} }}{\sigma }} \right) \)

Ca:

Capillary number \( {\text{Ca}} = \left( {\frac{{\mu \left( {U_{SG} + U_{SL} } \right)}}{\sigma }} \right) \)

Co:

Confinement number \( Co = \frac{1}{{D_{h} }}\sqrt {\frac{\sigma }{{g\left( {\rho_{L} - \rho_{G} } \right)}}} \)

D h :

Channel hydraulic diameter

Eö:

Eötvös number \( E{\ddot{o}} = \frac{{g\left( {\rho_{L} - \rho_{G} } \right)D_{h}^{2} }}{\sigma } \)

g:

Gravitational acceleration

h L :

Equilibrium liquid level

L:

Laplace constant \( L = \sqrt {\frac{\sigma }{{g\left( {\rho_{L} - \rho_{G} } \right)}}} \)

LPM:

Litre per minute

\( {\text{Re}}_{SG/SL} \) :

Superficial Reynolds number \( \text{Re}_{SG/SL} = \frac{{\rho_{G/L} U_{SG/SL} D_{h} }}{\mu } \)

U SG :

Superficial gas velocity

U SL :

Superficial liquid velocity

YJ:

Y-junction inlet

σ :

Surface tension

ρ G :

Gas phase density

ρ L :

Liquid phase density

μ :

Dynamic viscosity

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the authorities of the Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat for providing financial support for the development of Advanced Fluid Dynamics Lab where this minichannel based experiments are conducted.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat-7, Gujarat, India

    Hemant B. Mehta & Jyotirmay Banerjee

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  1. Hemant B. Mehta
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Correspondence to Jyotirmay Banerjee.

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Mehta, H.B., Banerjee, J. An investigation of flow orientation on air–water two-phase flow in circular minichannel. Heat Mass Transfer 50, 1353–1364 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-014-1332-2

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