Transition of Bubbly Flow in Vertical Tubes: New Criteria Through CFD Simulation

A. Das; P. K. Das; J. R. Thome

doi:10.1115/1.3203205

journal article Aug 18, 2009

Transition of Bubbly Flow in Vertical Tubes: New Criteria Through CFD Simulation

A. Das

P. K. Das J. R. Thome

Journal of Fluids Engineering Vol. 131 No. 9 · ASME International

View at Publisher Save 10.1115/1.3203205

Abstract

The two fluid model is used to simulate upward gas-liquid bubbly flow through a vertical conduit. Coalescence and breakup of bubbles have been accounted for by embedding the population balance technique in the two fluid model. The simulation enables one to track the axial development of the voidage pattern and the distribution of the bubbles. Thereby it has been possible to propose a new criterion for the transition from bubbly to slug flow regime. The transition criteria depend on (i) the breakage and coalescence frequency, (ii) the bubble volume count below and above the bubble size introduced at the inlet, and (iii) the bubble count histogram. The prediction based on the present criteria exhibits excellent agreement with the experimental data. It has also been possible to simulate the transition from bubbly to dispersed bubbly flow at a high liquid flow rate using the same model.

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Metrics

11

Citations

67

References

Details

Published: Aug 18, 2009
Vol/Issue: 131(9)

Authors

A

A. Das

Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Kharagpur, 721302, India

P

P. K. Das

Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Kharagpur, 721302, India

J

J. R. Thome

LCTM, EPFL, Lausanne CH-1015, Switzerland

Cite This Article

A. Das, P. K. Das, J. R. Thome (2009). Transition of Bubbly Flow in Vertical Tubes: New Criteria Through CFD Simulation. Journal of Fluids Engineering, 131(9). https://doi.org/10.1115/1.3203205

Transition of Bubbly Flow in Vertical Tubes: New Criteria Through CFD Simulation

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