INFLUENCE OF SURFACTANT ON TWO-PHASE FLOW REGIME AND PRESSURE DROP IN UPWARD INCLINED PIPES

The influence of a surfactant on the two-phase flow regime and the pressure drop in upward inclined pipes is investigated for various gas/liquid flow rates.The air/water and air/100 ppm sodium dodecyl sulphate aqueous solution are used as the working fluids.The influence of the surfactant on the two-phase flow regime in upward inclined pipes is investigated using the electrical tomographic technique.For 0o,2.5o and 5o pipe inclinations,the surfactant has obvious effect on the transition from the stratified wavy flow to the annular flow,and the range of the stratified smooth flow regime is also extended to higher gas velocities.For 10o pipe inclination,no stratified flow regime is observed in the air/water flow.In the air/surfactant solution system,however,the stratified flow regime can be found in the range of and.For all inclination angles,the changes of the pressure gradient characteristics are accompanied with the flow pattern transitions.Adding surfactant in a two-phase flow would reduce the pressure gradient significantly in the slug flow and annular flow regimes.In the annular flow regime,the pressure gradient gradually becomes free of the influence of the upward inclined angle,and is only dependent on the property of the two-phase flow.

ERRATUM TO “CHARACTERISTICS OF PRESSURE DROP AND CORRELATION OF FRICTION FACTORS FOR SINGLE-PHASE FLOW IN ROLLING HORIZONTAL PIPE”

This is the erratum to the article [zhang Jin-hong, Yan Chang-qi, Gao Pu-zhen, Journal of Hydrodynamics, 2009, 21(5)]. The Fig.5 is corrected.

Effect of polymer and fiber additives on pressure drop in a rectangular channel

The influence of minute amounts of additives on pressure drop is an interesting fundamental phenomenon, potentially with important practical applications. Change of the pressure drop in a quasi-two-dimensional channel flow using various additives is experimentally investigated. Tests were conducted for a wide range of concentrations（100 ppm-500 ppm） and Reynolds numbers（16 000-36 000） with two polymers and four rigid fibers used as additive. Maximum drag reduction of 22% was observed for xanthan gum. However, xanthan gum loses its drag-reducing property rapidly. It was also seen that drag reduction percentage of xanthan gum remains almost constant for different Reynolds numbers. Guar flour demonstrated good drag reduction property at high Reynolds numbers. Drag reduction of 17.5% at Re= 33 200 using 300 ppm solution was observed. However, at low Reynolds numbers guar flour will cause an increase in pressure drop. Fiber fillers（aspect ratio=21） have been tested as well. In contrast to polymers, they increased the drag for the range of examined concentrations and Reynolds numbers. Polyacrylonitrile fiber with three different aspect ratios（106, 200, 400） was also used, which showed an increase in pressure drop at low aspect ratios. Polyacrylonitrile fibers of larger lengths（6 mm） demonstrated minor drag-reducing effects（up to 3%）.

Flow-regime transitions in fluidized beds of non-spherical particles

Fluidized beds frequently involve non-spherical particles, especially if biomass is present. For spheri- cal particles, numerous experimental investigations have been reported in the literature. In contrast, complex-shaped particles have received much less attention. There is a lack of understanding of how par- ticle shape influences flow-regime transitions. In this study, differently shaped Geldart group D particles are experimentally examined. Bed height, pressure drop, and their respective fluctuations are analyzed. With increasing deviation of particle shape from spheres, differences in flow-regime transitions occur with a tendency for the bed to form channels instead of undergoing smooth fluidization. The correlations available in the literature for spherical particles are limited in their applicability when used to predict regime changes for complex-shaped particles. Hence, based on existing correlations, improvements are derived.

Two-phase flow distributors for fuel cell flow channels

All existing proton exchange membrane （PEM） fuel cell gas flow fields have been designed on the basis of single-phase gas flow distribution. The presence of liquid water in the flow causes non-uniform gas distribution, leading to poor cell performance. This paper demonstrates that a gas flow restrictor/distributor, as is commonly used in two-phase flow to stabilize multiphase transport lines and multiphase reactors, can improve the gas flow distribution by significantly reducing gas real-distribution caused by either non-uniform water formation in parallel flow channels or flow instability associated with negative-slope pressure drop characteristic of two-phase horizontal flow systems.