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Experimental Study of the Slug Flow

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Experimental and Theoretical Advances in Fluid Dynamics

Abstract

Slug flow is the flow pattern that more often is presented in two-phase flow. It has a complex physical configuration which has not been totally understood. For decades slug flow has been modeled by mechanistic approach with the use of the slug-unity concept. For this, slug length must be known. This parameter affects the determination of shear stresses and then the pressure drop calculations. In this work data are presented from experiments carried out in a two-phase flow equipment. Equipment has a pipe of 12 m length and a diameter of 0.01905 m, which can be inclined from 0 to 90°. The measured data were: (1) angle for which the Taylor bubble breaks contact with the pipe wall, (2) the characteristic lengths of the slug-unit, (3) pressure drop, and (4) presence of bubbles by means of optical sensors. It was found that Taylor bubbles break contact with the wall pipe at 45°. With the voltage signal from optical sensors it was possible to quantify velocities, lengths and frequency for the Taylor bubbles.

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Correspondence to O. C. Benítez-Centeno .

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© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Benítez-Centeno, O.C., Cazarez-Candia, O., Moya-Acosta, S.L. (2012). Experimental Study of the Slug Flow. In: Klapp, J., Cros, A., Velasco Fuentes, O., Stern, C., Rodriguez Meza, M. (eds) Experimental and Theoretical Advances in Fluid Dynamics. Environmental Science and Engineering(). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-17958-7_23

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