Experimental study of the hydrodynamic behaviour of slug flow in a vertical riser

Abdulkadir, M., Hernandez-Perez, V., Lowndes, Ian, Azzopardi, Barry J. and Dzomeku, S. (2014) Experimental study of the hydrodynamic behaviour of slug flow in a vertical riser. Chemical Engineering Science, 106 . pp. 60-75. ISSN 1873-4405

[img]
Preview
PDF - Requires a PDF viewer such as GSview, Xpdf or Adobe Acrobat Reader
Available under Licence Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives.
Download (2MB) | Preview

Abstract

This paper presents an investigation of the hydrodynamics of slug flow in a vertical 67 mm internal diameter riser. The slug flow regime was generated using a multiphase air–silicone oil mixture over a range of gas (0.42<USG<1.35 m/s) and liquid (0.05<USL<0.38 m/s) superficial velocities. Electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) was used to determine: the velocities of the Taylor bubbles and liquid slugs, the slug frequencies, the lengths of Taylor bubbles and the liquid slugs, the void fractions within the Taylor bubbles and liquid slugs and the liquid film thicknesses. A differential pressure transducer was used to measure the pressure drops along the length of the riser. It was found that the translational velocity of a Taylor bubble (the structure velocity) was strongly dependent on the mixture superficial velocity. As the gas superficial velocity, was increased, the void fraction and the lengths of the liquid slugs and the Taylor bubbles were observed to increase. The increase in gas superficial velocity causes an increase in the frictional pressure drop within the pipe, whilst the total pressure drop (which is a sum of the hydrostatic and frictional pressure drop) along the length of the riser decreases. In addition, the frequencies of the liquid slugs were observed to increase as the liquid superficial velocity increases, but to be weakly dependant on the gas superficial velocity. The manual counting method for the determination of slug frequency was found to be in good agreement with the power spectral density (PSD) computed method.

Item Type: Article
Keywords: ECT, Taylor Bubble, Liquid Slug, Slug Unit, Frequency, Void Fraction
Schools/Departments: University of Nottingham, UK > Faculty of Engineering > Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ces.2013.11.021
Depositing User: Eprints, Support
Date Deposited: 28 Jul 2016 12:54
Last Modified: 08 May 2020 10:15
URI: https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/35518

Actions (Archive Staff Only)

Edit View Edit View