Development of Interfacial Structure in a Confined Air-Water Cap-Turbulent and Churn-Turbulent Flow

Conference · Mon Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 2002

OSTI ID:21072826

Sun, Xiaodong; Kim, Seungjin; Cheng, Ling; Ishii, Mamoru ^[1]; Beus, Stephen G ^[2]

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1. Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907 (United States)
2. Bechtel Bettis, Inc., Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory, Post Office Box 79, West Mifflin, PA 15122-0079 (United States)

The objective of the present work is to study and model the interfacial structure development of air-water two-phase flow in a confined test section. Experiments of a total of 9 flow conditions in cap-turbulent and churn-turbulent flow regimes are carried out in a vertical air-water upward two-phase flow experimental loop with a test section of 200-mm in width and 10-mm in gap. Miniaturized four-sensor conductivity probes are used to measure local two-phase parameters at three different elevations for each flow condition. The bubbles captured by the probes are categorized into two groups in view of the two-group interfacial area transport equation, i.e., spherical/distorted bubbles as Group 1 and cap/churn-turbulent bubbles as Group 2. The acquired parameters are time-averaged local void fraction, interfacial velocity, bubble number frequency, interfacial area concentration, and bubble Sauter mean diameter for both groups of bubbles. Also, the line-averaged and area-averaged data are presented and discussed. The comparisons of these parameters at different elevations demonstrate the development of interfacial structure along the flow direction due to bubble interactions. (authors)

• Research Organization: The ASME Foundation, Inc., Three Park Avenue, New York, NY 10016-5990 (United States)
• OSTI ID: 21072826
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
AIR
BUBBLES
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
SPHERICAL CONFIGURATION
TRANSPORT THEORY
TURBULENT FLOW
TWO-PHASE FLOW
WATER