Abstract
This paper presents an experimental study on pressure drop using non-boiling liquid-liquid Taylor flow in mini scale coiled and curved tubing. Experiments were carried out to measure the pressure drop characteristics by varying the numbers of turns in coiled tubes and the lengths of curved tubes of less than one turn, such that Dean number, Reynolds number, radius of curvature, and coil pitch were considered. A set of narrow coiled tubes (ID = 1.59 mm, 1.27 mm, 1.016 mm) was used as test sections with different radii of curvature and overall lengths, and thus a different quantity of turns. Water and 1 cSt low viscosity silicone oil were used to create a segmented slug flow. An asymptotic model is developed based on the experimental results and previous models to predict the pressure drop, based on Dean number and dimensionless slug length. The effects of varying tube curvature and tube diameter are also studied. The results provide new insights into the effect of coiling and secondary flow on pressure drop for a liquid-liquid Taylor flow in mini scale systems.
