Experimental Measurements and Numerical Simulations of Two-Phase Stratified, Wavy and Slug Flow in a Narrow Rectangular Channel

Flow pattern transitions in two-phase flow are important phenomena for many different types of engineering applications, including heat exchangers. While two-phase flow is not understood as well as single-phase flow, advancements in both measurement techniques and numerical simulations are helping to increase the understanding of two-phase flow. In this paper, stratified/wavy flow is investigated, along with the transition from wavy to slug flow. For the experimental setup, a narrow channel with a length of 600 mm, height of 40 mm, and a width of 15 mm was fabricated using clear acrylic plastic, and water and air were the two fluids used for testing. The water in the channel was initially at rest, and the transition in flow patterns was created by increasing the velocity of air flowing over the water surface. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) was used to measure the velocity of the flow for stratified and wavy flow conditions, and also the velocity at the onset of slug flow. Along with the experimental measurements, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were conducted on a similar geometry using the volume of fluid (VOF) two-phase model. A commercial CFD software package was used for the simulations, and comparisons were made between the experimental measurements and numerical results. Favorable agreement was found between the experimental measurements and the numerical simulations. In particular, the transition from wavy to slug flow compared well to previously developed two-phase flow transition models, including the slug transition developed by Taitel and Dukler.