Slug bubble deformation and its influence on bubble breakup dynamics in microchannel

The deformation of moving slug bubbles and its influence on the bubble breakup dynamics in microchannel were studied.Three bubble morphologies were found in the experiment:slug,dumbbell and grenade shapes.The viscosity effect of continuous phase aggravates the velocity difference between the fluid near the wall and the bubble,resulting in that the continuous phase near the bubble head flows towards and squeezes the bubble tail,which causes the deformation of bubbles.Moreover,the experimental results show that the deformation of bubbles could significa ntly prolo ng the bubble breakup period at the downstream Y-junction.There exists the critical capillary number Ca_(Cr )for the asymmetric breakup of grenade bubbles,Ca_(Cr )increases with the rise of flow rate and viscosity of the continuous phase.

Scaling of the bubble/slug length of Taylor flow in a meandering microchannel

In order to reduce or avoid the fluctuations from interface breakup, a meandering microchannel with curved multi-bends(44 turns) is fabricated, and investigations of scaling bubble/slug length in Taylor flow in a rectangular meandering microchannel are systematically conducted. Based on considerable experimental data,quantitative analyses for the influences of two important characteristic times, liquid phase physical properties and aspect ratio are made on the prediction criteria for the bubble/slug length of Taylor flow in a meandering microchannel. A simple principle is suggested to predict the bubble formation period by using the information of Rayleigh time and capillary time for six gas–liquid systems with average deviation of 10.96%. Considering physical properties of the liquid phase and cross-section configuration of the rectangular mcirochannel,revised scaling laws for bubble length are established by introducing Ca, We, Re and W/h whether for the squeezing-driven or shearing-driven of bubble break. In addition, a simple principle in terms of Garstecki-type model and bubble formation period is set-up to predict slug lengths. A total of 107 sets of experimental data are correlated with the meandering microchannel and operating range: 0.001 b CaTPb 0.05, 0.06 b WeTPb 9.0,18 b ReTPb 460 using the bubble/slug length prediction equation from current work. The average deviation between the correlated data and the experimental data for bubble length and slug length is about 9.42% and9.95%, respectively.

Investigation on two-phase flow-induced vibrations of a piping structure with an elbow

The dynamic behaviors of a horizontal piping structure with an elbow due to the two-phase flow excitation are experimentally investigated.The effects of flow patterns and superficial velocities on the pressure pulsations and vibration responses are evaluated in detail.A strong partition coupling algorithm is used to calculate the flow-induced vibration(FIV)responses of the pipe,and the theoretical values agree well with the experimental results.It is found that the lateral and axial vibration responses of the bend pipe are related to the momentum flux of the two-phase flow,and the vibration amplitudes of the pipe increase with an increase in the liquid mass flux.The vertical vibration responses are strongly affected by the flow pattern,and the maximum response occurs in the transition region from the slug flow to the bubbly flow.Moreover,the standard deviation(STD)amplitudes of the pipe vibration in three directions increase with an increase in the gas flux for both the slug and bubbly flows.The blockage of liquid slugs at the elbow section is found to strengthen the vibration amplitude of the bend pipe,and the water-blocking phenomenon disappears as the superficial gas velocity increases.

Void fraction measurement of bubble and slug flow in a small channel using the multivision technique

Using the multivision technique, a new void fraction measurement method was developed for bubble and slug flow in a small channel. The multivision system was developed to obtain images of the two-phase flow in two perpendicular directions. The obtained images were processed--using image segmentation, image subtraction, Canny edge detection, binarization, and hole filling-to extract the phase boundaries and information about the bubble or slug parameters, With the extracted information, a new void fraction measurement model was developed and used to determine the void fraction of the two-phase flow. The proposed method was validated experimentally in horizontal and vertical channels with different inner diameters of 2.1, 2.9, and 4.0 mm, The proposed method of measuring the void fraction has better performance than the methods that use images acquired in only one direction, with a maximum absolute difference between the measured and reference values of less than 6%.

Numerical Investigation of Two-Phase Flow through a T-Junction Microchannel Reactor

Recently, microreactors have become available to be fabricated and used safely. The performance of these microreactors depends on the behavior of the multiphase flow hydrodynamics. Gas-liquid flow through T-junction microchannel reactor is simulated numerically using VOF （volume of fluid） method. 2-D （Two-dimensional） and 3-D （three-dimensional） models of the T-junction microchannel reactor were introduced to the simulations. Both 2-D and 3-D simulations for nitrogen-water flow were performed in the FLUENT （Fluent. Inc.） computational fluid dynamics package. The third direction effect has been studied by comparing the results of the 2-D and 3-D simulations with the published experimental data. Also, the bubble slug length was calculated for the 2-D and 3-D simulations. Furthermore, the hydrodynamics of the flow was studied for the 2-D and 3-D simulations, and compared with other experimental data. The pressure drop, mean bubble velocity, the velocity distribution and the void fraction were calculated and found to be in good agreement with published data.

Characteristics of Gas-Liquid Slug Flow in Microchannel by Instantaneous Liquid Film Thickness Measurement

This paper seeks to decipher the exact relationship between the liquid film thickness and the hydrodynamics of gas-liquid slug flows. An instantaneous measurement system is developed by integrating the laser focus displacement meter(LFDM) and high-speed camera to characterize the temporal evolution of the liquid film and the dynamic characteristics of continuous slug flows. A glass tube with internal diameter of 0.75 mm is used and the tested ranges of superficial gas and liquid velocities are 0.01–1.2 m/s and 0.01–0.09 m/s respectively. The non-zero signals of LFDM representing the bubble slug flows changed from regular periodic intervals to chaotic fluctuations when slug-annular flow pattern appears. The dominant frequencies of the periodic intermittent slug flows increased from about 0.5–2 Hz to nearly 10–20 Hz as the superficial gas velocity rised from 0.025 to 0.78 m/s. The bubble and liquid slug lengths calculated by the time interval of liquid film thickness and bubble velocity correlated well with the empirical model. Meantime, the average value of void fraction derived from the calculation of transient liquid film thickness shows a linear growth with the gas holdup ratio.

Fluidization and bubbling behavior of potash particles in a deep fluidized bed

Most existing models for predicting bubble size and bubble frequency have been developed for freely bubbling fluidized beds.Accurate prediction of bubbling behavior in deep fluidized beds,however,has been a challenge due to the higher degree of bubble coalescence and break up,high probability of the slugging regime,partial fluidization,and chaotic behavior in the bubbling regime.In this work,the bubbling and fluidization behavior of potash particles was investigated in a deep fluidized bed employing a twin-plane electrical capacitance tomography(ECT)system.Solid volume fraction,average bubble velocity,average bubble diameter,and bubble frequency in both bubbling and slugging regimes were measured at two different bed height ratios(H/D=3.5 and H/D=3.78).This work is the first to illustrate a sequential view of bubbles at different superficial gas velocities in a fluidized bed.The results show that both the bubble diameter and rising velocity increased with increasing the superficial gas velocity for the two bed heights,with larger values observed in the deeper bed compared to the shallower one.Predicted values for bubble diameter,bubble rise velocity and bubble frequency from different models are compared with the experimental data obtained from the ECT system in this work.Good agreement has been achieved between the values predicted by the previous models and the experimental data for the bubble diameter and bubble rise velocity with an average absolute deviation of 16%and 15%for the bed height of 49 cm and 13%and 8%for the bed height of 53 cm,respectively.