Study of interfacial behavior in cocurrent gas-liquid flows

Technical Report · Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1990

OSTI ID:5141250

McCready, M J

We have examined the mechanism of formation of solitary waves on gas-liquid flows and found, that these form from existing periodic waves which have sufficiently large ({approximately}1.5 to 2 depending upon fluid properties) amplitude to liquid layer-thickness ratios. The exact process for the wave shape change is not understood but it does not seem to be related to the wave steepness (amplitude/wavelength) or to separation of gas flow over the waves. The observed confinement of solitary waves to low liquid Reynolds numbers results because the necessary large precursor waves do not form if the wave speed dispersion is too large or if the wavelength of the dominant waves is too short, as occurs for higher Re{sub L}. Measurements of interface tracings and calculations of power spectra and bispectra as a function of flow distance for conditions close to neutral stability reveal that the initially, linearly unstable mode is stabilized by formation of overtones which are linearly stable and can dissipate energy. As a result, a stable wave field can occur. Mode equations, which include quadratic nonlinearities, can model this process to the extent of producing some degree of quantitative predictions for the amplitudes of the wave modes. However, a complete picture of the wave field must include sidebands as well because these are observed for some flow conditions. 34 refs., 12 figs., 2 tabs.

• Research Organization: Notre Dame Univ., IN (USA). Dept. of Chemical Engineering
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE/ER
• DOE Contract Number: FG02-88ER13913
• OSTI ID: 5141250
• Report Number(s): DOE/ER/13913-2; ON: DE90005988
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS//MATHEMATICS, COMPUTING, AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
TWO-PHASE FLOW
MEASURING METHODS
DAMPING
DISPERSIONS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FLOW RATE
GAS FLOW
HYDRAULICS
INTERFACES
LAYERS
LIQUID FLOW
PROGRESS REPORT
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
REYNOLDS NUMBER
STABILITY
STATISTICAL MODELS
SUBSTRATES
TRANSITION FLOW
VELOCITY
VISIBILITY
WAVE FUNCTIONS
DATA
DOCUMENT TYPES
FLUID FLOW
FLUID MECHANICS
FUNCTIONS
INFORMATION
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MECHANICS
NUMERICAL DATA
420400* - Engineering- Heat Transfer & Fluid Flow
990200 - Mathematics & Computers