In the present study, numerical simulation of adiabatic air-water slug flow in a micro tube is carried out. The focus is laid upon the pressure drop characteristics and its modeling. The Phase-Field method is employed to capture the interface between the phases, while the surface tension force is represented by the chemical potential formulation. The numerical results agree fairly well with available experimental results in terms of bubble shape and flow pattern. Simulation is repeated under different conditions of pressure gradient, void fraction and bubble frequency. It is found that the total pressure drop of a slug flow can be decomposed into two parts, i.e., the frictional pressure drop associated with a liquid slug sandwiched by bubbles, and the pressure drop over a bubble itself. For the former, when the liquid slug is longer than one tube diameter, the cross-sectional velocity distribution resembles a Poiseuille flow profile, so that the corresponding pressure drop can be predicted by the theoretical solution of single-phase liquid flow, i.e., fReTP = 64. For the latter, if it is assumed that the surface tension force is strong enough to sustain a thin liquid film between the interface and the tube wall, the pressure drop in this region is negligible. The pressure drop over a bubble is solely dependent on the two-phase superficial Reynolds number ReTP, which can be correlated as: Δpbubb′ = 0.07 + 42.4 / ReTP. This correlation predicts well the two-phase pressure drop in the form of the two-phase multiplier correlation as a function of the Lockhart-Martinelli parameter.
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ASME 2008 6th International Conference on Nanochannels, Microchannels, and Minichannels
June 23–25, 2008
Darmstadt, Germany
Conference Sponsors:
- Nanotechnology Institute
ISBN:
0-7918-4834-5
PROCEEDINGS PAPER
Numerical Investigation on Flow Pattern and Pressure Drop Characteristics of Slug Flow in a Micro Tube Available to Purchase
Nobuhide Kasagi
Nobuhide Kasagi
University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
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Qunwe He
University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Nobuhide Kasagi
University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Paper No:
ICNMM2008-62225, pp. 327-335; 9 pages
Published Online:
June 11, 2009
Citation
He, Q, & Kasagi, N. "Numerical Investigation on Flow Pattern and Pressure Drop Characteristics of Slug Flow in a Micro Tube." Proceedings of the ASME 2008 6th International Conference on Nanochannels, Microchannels, and Minichannels. ASME 2008 6th International Conference on Nanochannels, Microchannels, and Minichannels. Darmstadt, Germany. June 23–25, 2008. pp. 327-335. ASME. https://doi.org/10.1115/ICNMM2008-62225
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