The effect of liquid properties on axial development of gas-volume-fraction profiles in bubble-column flows is investigated. Experiments are conducted in a cylindrical vessel with an inner diameter of 0.48 m and a height of 3 m. The liquids examined include water and two lightweight mineral oils. A cross sparger with 96 holes is used to inject air into the column with all the holes facing either upwards or downwards. The superficial gas velocity ranges from 5 to 30 cm/s, and the absolute column pressure ranges from 0.1 to 0.5 MPa. Gamma-densitometry tomography (GDT) is used to measure radial distributions of gas volume fraction at eight axial locations. The development length of the gas-volume-fraction profile is shown to increase with gas velocity and column pressure for all three liquids. The development of the cross-sectionally averaged gas-volume fraction for the air/water flow is remarkably different from that for the air/oil flows.

This content is only available via PDF.
You do not currently have access to this content.