Dvora Barnea, Ovadia Shoham and Yehuda Taitel School of Engineering, Tel-Aviv University, Ramat-Aviv, Israel
Dvora Barnea, Ovadia Shoham and Yehuda Taitel School of Engineering, Tel-Aviv University, Ramat-Aviv, Israel
217-225
Perlpmmn/Elsevim',I~0. Printedin GreatBri~in
Abstract--Experimental measurements of flow patterns for gas-liquid flow in inclined pipes are reported.
The results compare well with a recently published theory for the prediction of flow patterns in horizontal
and inclined pipes (Taitel & Dukler 1976).
INTRODUCTION
The prediction of flow patterns is a central problem in two phase gas-liquid flow in pipes. Design
parameters such as pressure drop and heat and mass transfer are strongly dependent on the
flow pattern. Hence, in order to accomplish a reliable design of gas-liquid systems such as pipe
lines, boilers and condensers, an a priori knowledge of the flow pattern is needed.
Although extensive research on flow patterns has been conducted, most of this research has
been concentrated on either horizontal or vertical flow. For horizontal flow the earliest and
perhapsthe most durable of pattern maps for two phase gas-liquid flow was proposed by Baker
(1954). Many more have been suggested: Kosterin (1949), White & Huntington (1955), Govier &
Omer (1962) and Mandhane et al. (1974). AI-Sheikh et al. (1970) defined a variety of dimension-
less groups and concluded that no two groups characterize all of the transitions and aU of the
data. Taitel & Dukler (1976) proposed a physical model capable of predicting flow regime
transition in horizontal and near horizontal two phase flow. In this work the flow pattern
boundaries were predicted analytically and it was shown that for each inclination angle every
transition boundary can be represented by two dimensionless groups.
Very little work has been published on the effect of inclination on two phase flow in pipes.
Bonnecaze et al. (1971) and Singh & Griflith (1970) studied slug flow in inclined pipes but they
deal with only one flow pattern and with a limited extent of inclination. Gould et al. (1974)
published flow pattern maps for horizontal and vertical flows and for upflow at 45° inclination.
They also presented a model for predicting pressure distribution in two phase flow through
vertical, inclined and curved pipes. Beggs et al. (1973) investigated the effect of pipe inclination
on liquid holdup and pressure loss. The problem of pressure drop in inclined flow was treated
by Savigny (1962). Greskovich (1972) studied holdup in gas-liquid downflow. Oshimowo &
Charles (1974) investigated vertical downflow in bends.
The present work reports new data on flow pattern transitions for gas-liquid flow in inclined
pipes. The flow of air and water through 2.55 and 1.95cm pipes is studied at flow angles as large
as 10°. The analytical model for predicting flow pattern for horizontal and near horizontal pipe
as proposed by Taitel & Dukler (1976) is tested by comparison with the experimental results.
E X P E R I M E N T A L E Q U I P M E N T AND P R O C E D U R E
The experimental apparatus consisted of an air-water supply system containing a water
pump, air and water flow meters and test section in which the two phase flow is visually
observed and the flow pattern recorded.
217
218 DVORABARNEAet al.
Air was supplied at 60 N/cm 2 from a central compressed air line through an oil separator.
The air passed through a regulating valve to maintain a constant pressure and then through gas
rotameters. Air flow rate was controlled by valves upstream of the meters. Liquid was supplied
from a tank and circulated through the system by a centrifugal pump.
Two different inlet sections were used. The first was a "tee" type with water entering on the
run and air on the branch. The second inlet section was a "mixer" type where air was
introduced circumferentially into the pipe through uniformly distributed small holes. Two test
sections were fabricated of Plexiglas tubing with inner diameters of 1.95 and 2.55 cm. The tubes
were each 3 m long supported on a steel frame which could be inclined with the horizontal.
Flow temperature and pressures were measured.
The flow pattern in the test section was determined by visual observation. Careful preli-
minary runs were made for horizontal flow in order to define, classify and categorize the flow
pattern. Some of the transition boundaries were found to be sharp but most of them were
gradual with respect to the flow rate changes. Experiments were carried out with horizontal
pipes for upward inclination angles of 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, 5 and 10° and for downward angles of I, 2,
5 and l0 °. Inclination angles reported in this work are accurate to _+0.03°.
Horizontal test section. The results obtained in this experiment are compared in figure 1
with the coordination of experimental data for small tubes represented by the Mandhane map.
Very good agreement exists with the other data used to build Mandhane's map for the basic
transition from the stratified pattern to either the intermittent or annular pattern. These
transitions take place over a narrow change in flow rates, are quite distinct and are easily
reproduced by different investigators.
The Mandhane dispersed bubble-intermittent flow boundary is located at higher liquid rates
than these new data. The difference results from differences in definition. Mandhane et al.
(1974) distinguished elongated bubble from bubble flow only when the bubbles were distributed
more or less uniformly throughout the liquid. From a modelling point of view,
it seems more logical to consider the flow pattern as being dispersed bubble once small bubbles
are observed in a continuous liquid and the elongated bubbles disappear. As a result, our
dispersed bubble regime transition appears at a lower liquid flow rate compared to Mandhane's
map. In the flow regime maps presented by Baker (1954), Hoogendoorn (1959) and Gorier &
Aziz (1972), the dispersed bubble-intermittent transition line is located at lower liquid rates than
in Mandhane's map.
The extent of the annular flow pattern region also differs from that presented by Mandhane.
A closer observation shows that our transition boundary agrees well with Mandhane's if the
wavy annular regime (the black triangular points in figure 1) is considered slug flow. As
discussed above, wavy annular flow has been interpreted as slug flow by some previous
investigators. Thus, this discrepancy is based on a difference in interpretation of the nature of
wavy-annular flow as discussed above.
The slug-elongated bubble transition boundary has not been well defined. Mandhane
followed the description of Gorier & Aziz (1972) in which the distinction between elongated
bubble and slug flow is based on "bubble shape" and film thickness below the bubble. Figure 1
shows that the criteria of no gas holdup in the liquid slug is consistent with previous data for
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elongated bubble-slug transition in spite of the vague definition. Indeed, the experimental
elongated bubble to slug transition compares well with Mandhane's map.
Effect of inclination on flow regime. The effect of upward and downward inclination on
flow pattern transition was carefully examined. Some typical results are shown in figures 2-7.
The data shown were obtained in the 2.55-cm pipe with similar results observed for the 1.95-cm
pipe. The effect of the entrance section was found negligible for all flow pattern boundaries
except for the stratified smooth-stratified wavy transition. In figures 2-7 results for the "mixer"
type entrance section are shown.
The major effect of inclination on the flow patterns is observed in the transition between
stratified and intermittent or annular regimes. In downflow (figures 5-7) the liquid moves more
rapidly and has a lower level in the pipe owing to downward gravity forces. As a result, higher
gas and liquid flow rates are required to cause transition from stratified flow and the stratified
flow region is considerably expanded as the angle of inclination increases. Conversely, upward
inclination cause intermittent flow to take place over a much wider range of flow conditions
(figures 2-4). The stratified-intermittent transition boundary is very sensitive to the angle of
inclination and even for upward angles of less than 1° the regime of stratified flow shrinks into a
small bell-shaped region. For upward inclinations higher than 10° stratified flow is not observed
at all (for the observed range of liquid and gas flow rates).
Stratified smooth flow is not seen for upward inclination except for very small angles (less
than 0.25°). For downflow, contrary to the case of horizontal and upflow where waves are
generated from the action of the "wind" on the interface, natural instability of the interface
occurs as a result of flow due to gravity even in the absence of gas flow. Thus, for negligible gas
flow rates the transition from smooth to wavy interfaces depends only on the liquid rate as
clearly indicated by the "horizontal" transition line which is independent of the gas flow rate.
Unlike the stratified smooth-stratified wavy transition for horizontal flow, where the change is
quite sharp, in downflow the location of this transition cannot be accurately determined. In
addition, changes from stratified smooth to wavy depend on the type of entrance section being
used. The tee-type entry section resulted in a transition boundary at a liquid flow ratio 2-4 times
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Figure 2. Experiment vs theory. 0.25 ° upward inclination of a 2.5 cm pipe. --, experiment: ---, theory,
FLOW PATTERN TRANSITION FOR GAS=LIQUID FLOW 221
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Figure 3. Experiment vs theory. 20 upward inclination of a 2.5 cm pipe. - - , experiment, ...... , theory.
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Figure 4. Experimental vs theory. I0 ° upward inclination of a 2.5 cm pipe. - - , experiment; ..... , theory.
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higher than that for the mixer-type section. Because of the difliculty in accurately determining
this transition, the results should be treated with caution.
The experimental data show that for upward inclinations the flow rate space over which the
intermittent pattern exists expands at the expense of the stratified pattern while for inclined
downflow the result is just the opposite. An isolated region of stratified flow occurs so that as
the gas rate is decreased, flow pattern transitions from annular to stratified and then back to
annular or slug flow can be observed (see figure 3). This unexpected result is confirmed both
from experiment and theory.
Comparison of the theoretical model with experimental data. The results of these experi-
ments are compared with the theoretical model previously published by Taitel & Dukler (1976)
in figures 2-7. This theory was designed to predict the flow pattern transitions for horizontal
and "near horizontal" flows. At the time the theoretical model was conceived, experimental
verification was possible only for the horizontal case because of the lack of data for inclined
pipes. Now it is possible to check the validity of this model for inclined pipes as well as
determine quantitatively the range of inclination angles for which the theory can be considered
valid.
The broken lines in figures 1-7 represent the theoretically predicted transition boundaries.
The agreement between experiment and theory is indeed remarkable up to _10 ° inclinations,
except for the stratified smooth to wavy transition for downward inclinations.
For horizontal flow (figure 1) very satisfactory agreement exists with respect to all transition
lines. The apparent discrepancies are of the same order as the experimental error.
The comparisons displayed in figures 2-7 lead to the conclusion that the model presented by
Taitel & Dukler (1976) is applicable to inclined pipes to _+10° inclination with good accuracy.
The agreement is particularly well demonstrated for inclined upflow (see figures 2--4) where the
bell-shaped stratified region is quite accurately predicted. Experimental measurements not
224 DVORABARNEAet al.
displayed here show that for angles from 10 to 30°, the theories while not accurate can give a
reasonable estimate of the pattern.
The only exception to this agreement is the transition boundary between stratified smooth
and stratified wavy patterns especially for downward flow. The theoretical model fails to
correctly account for the start of the wavy stratified pattern for downward flows. According to
the model, the waves are caused by the gas flow as a result of transfer of energy between the
gas and liquid phase. However, as has been observed waves will develop on the surface of a
falling film in the absence of gas flow. The existence of these waves depends on the liquid flow
rate and the level of the interface and this changes significantly with inclination. Because the
disagreement is so substantial, the theoretical results which are based on Taitel & Dukler (1976)
for this transition are not displayed on the graphs to avoid confusion.
Theories for predicting conditions for wave formation on films flowing on inclined planes
have been presented by Benjamin (1957), Yih (1%9), Stoker (1957), Krantz & Goren (1970),
Whittaker (1966), Hanratty & Hershman (1%1) and many others.
Depending on the particular model used, the criteria for the first appearance of waves is
described in terms of Reynolds number, Froude number and sometimes the Weber number. The
usual approach is to perturb the Navier-Stokes equations leading to an Orr-Sommerfield type
equation which is solved either numerically or by various approximate means to determine the
condition for stability. A fairly comprehensive review of existing solutions is given by Fulford
(1%4) and Krantz & Goren (1971).
Although results of the various investigators differ from each other, the general agreement is
that the interface is unstable at a very low Reynolds number of the order of 5-50 depending on
the angle of inclination. As a typical example, consider the classical treatment by Yih (t%9)
who showed that the critical Reynolds number for the generation waves is given by
Rc = 6 c o t c~. Ill
According to this result the interface is always unstable for the vertical plane (in practice, it is
unstable for very low Reynolds numbers) and always stable for the horizontal case (a = 0),
However, for inclination over 1°, the critical Reynolds number is less than 50. Comparison with
these experiments shows that even for the mixer-type entrance element, smooth interfaces
were observed at much higher Reynolds numbers. Also, the trend as given by Ill does not agree
with observation.
Its suggested the fact that smooth stratified surfaces were obtained at flow rates where the
theoies predict a wavy interface may be due to entrance phenomena and the low rate of
amplification expected at low liquid rates (Benjamin 1957). This hypothesis may be supported
by the fact that in the "tee" type entrance section the interface was smooth at liquid flow rates
two to four times higher than for the "mixer" entrance section.
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