Wall pressure measurements of flooding in vertical countercurrent annular air–water flow

Journal Article · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2010 · Nuclear Engineering and Design

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2010.06.002· OSTI ID:983927

An experimental study of flooding in countercurrent air-water annular flow in a large diameter vertical tube using wall pressure measurements is described in this paper. Axial pressure profiles along the length of the test section were measured up to and after flooding using fast response pressure transducers for three representative liquid flow rates representing a wide range of liquid Reynolds numbers (ReL = 4Γ/μ; Γ is the liquid mass flow rate per unit perimeter; μ is the dynamic viscosity) from 3341 to 19,048. The results show that flooding in large diameter tubes cannot be initiated near the air outlet and is only initiated near the air inlet. Fourier analysis of the wall pressure measurements shows that up to the point of flooding, there is no dominant wave frequency but rather a band of frequencies encompassing both the low frequency and the broad band that are responsible for flooding. The data indicates that flooding in large diameter vertical tubes may be caused by the constructive superposition of a plurality of waves rather than the action of a single large-amplitude wave.

• Research Organization: Texas Engineering Experiment Station, College Station, TX
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy (NE)
• DOE Contract Number: FG07-05ID14696
• OSTI ID: 983927
• Report Number(s): DOE/05ID14696-1; Journal Serial ID: not available
• Journal Information: Nuclear Engineering and Design, Journal Name: Nuclear Engineering and Design Journal Issue: not available Vol. not available
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
AIR
FLOW RATE
FOURIER ANALYSIS
LIQUID FLOW
PRESSURE MEASUREMENT
REACTOR TECHNOLOGY
REYNOLDS NUMBER
TRANSDUCERS
VISCOSITY
countercurrent flow
flooding
pressure transducer