Two-phase flow dynamics and heat transfer in microgravity

Book · Fri Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1996

OSTI ID:382783

Fore, L B; Witte, L C ^[1]; Bousman, W S ^[2]

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1. Univ. of Houston, TX (United States)
2. Kelco, Inc., San Diego, CA (United States)

The results of experiments and modeling of the characteristics of two-phase flows in microgravity will be presented in this paper. In addition to high speed photographs of the flows, electronic measurements of void fraction, liquid film thickness, bubble and wave velocity, pressure drop, wall shear stress, wall temperature and wall heat flux were made for a wide range of liquid and gas flow rates. The effects of liquid viscosity, surface tension and tube diameter on the behavior of these flows were also assessed. From the data collected, maps showing the occurrence of various flow patterns as a function of gas and liquid flow rates were constructed. Three flow patterns, bubble, slug and annular flow, were observed in microgravity. These patterns were found to occur in distinct regions of the gas-liquid flow rate parameter space. The effect of liquid viscosity, surface tension and tube diameter on the location of the boundaries of the regions was small. Heat transfer measurements in annular and slug flow using a constant heat flux tube show that Nusselt numbers could be correlated in terms of Reynolds and Prandtl numbers.

• OSTI ID: 382783
• Report Number(s): CONF-960154--; ISBN 0-9648731-8-4
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FLOW MODELS
FLOW VISUALIZATION
HEAT TRANSFER
POWER SYSTEMS
PRESSURE GRADIENTS
SPACE FLIGHT
THEORETICAL DATA
TRANSITION FLOW
TUBES
TWO-PHASE FLOW