Flow Regimes in Bubble Columns with and without Internals: A Review

Hydrodynamics characterization in terms offlow regime behavior is a crucial task to enhance the design of bubble column reactors and scaling up related methodologies.This review presents recent studies on the typicalflow regimes established in bubble columns.Some effort is also provided to introduce relevant definitions pertaining to thisfield,namely,that of“void fraction”and related(local,chordal,cross-sectional and volumetric)variants.Experimental studies involving different parameters that affect design and operating conditions are also discussed in detail.In the second part of the review,the attention is shifted to cases with internals of various types(perfo-rated plates,baffles,vibrating helical springs,mixers,and heat exchanger tubes)immersed in the bubble columns.It is shown that the presence of these elements has a limited influence on the global column hydrodynamics.However,they can make the homogeneousflow regime more stable in terms of transition gas velocity and transi-tion holdup value.The last section is used to highlight gaps which have not beenfilled yet and future directions of investigation.

Experimental Studies of Heat Transfer Characteristics and Properties of the Cross-Flow Pipe Flow Melt Lead

The process of heat transfer in a HLMC cross-flow around heat-transfer tubes is not yet thoroughly studied. Therefore, it is of great interest to carry out experimental studies for determining the heat transfer characteristics in a lead coolant cross-flow around tubes. It is also interesting to explore the velocity and temperature fields in a HLMC flow. To achieve this goal, experts of the NNSTU performed the work aimed at the experimental determination of the temperature and velocity fields in high-temperature lead coolant cross-flows around a tube bundle. The experimental studies were carried out in a specially designed high-temperature liquid-metal facility. The experimental facility is a combination of two high-temperature liquid-metal setups, i.e., FT-2 with a lead coolant and FT-1 with a lead-bismuth coolant, united by an experimental site. The experimental site is a model of the steam generator of the BREST-300 reactor facility. The heat-transfer surface is an in-line tube bank of a diameter of 17 × 3.5 mm, which is made of 10H9NSMFB ferritic-martensitic steel. The temperature of the heat-transfer surface is measured with thermocouples of a diameter of 1 mm being installed in the walls of heat-transfer tubes. The velocity and temperature fields in a high-temperature HLMC flow are measured with special sensors installed in the flow cross section between the rows of heat-transfer tubes. The characteristics of heat transfer and velocity fields in a lead coolant flow were studied in different directions of the coolant flow: The vertical (“top-down” and “bottom-up”) and the horizontal ones. The studies were conducted under the following operating conditions: The temperature of lead was t = 450°C - 5000°C, the thermodynamic activity of oxygen was a = 10-5 - 100, and the lead flow through the experimental site was Q = 3 - 6 m3/h, which corresponds to coolant velocities of V = 0.4 - 0.8 m/s. Comprehensive experimental studies of the characteristics of heat transfer in a lead coolant cross-flow around tubes have been carried out for the first time and the dependences for a controlled and regulated content of the thermodynamically active oxygen impurity and sediments of impurities have been obtained. The effect of the oxygen impurity content in the coolant and characteristics of protective oxide coatings on the temperature and velocity fields in a lead coolant flow is revealed. This is because the presence of oxygen in the coolant and oxide coatings on the surface, which restrict the liquid-metal flow, leads to a change in the characteristics of the wall-adjacent region. The obtained experimental data on the distribution of the velocity and temperature fields in a HLMC flow permit studying the heat-transfer processes and, on this basis, creating program codes for engineering calculations of HLMC flows around heat-transfer surfaces.

Simulation of Gas-Liquid Mixture Movement through a Pipeline on the Seabed, Taking into Account the Heat Exchange Process

In the paper, a dynamical model of gas-liquid mixture motion through a pipeline with regard to change of rheological properties that occur as a result of heat-exchange process, is constructed, and the solutions of the obtained connected differential equations are given. Analytic expression allowing to determine pressure change along the length of a pipeline, is obtained.