Investigation of Huge Wave in Gas-Liquid Two-Phase Churn Flow

Abstract

Abstract Churn flow frequently occurs in power plants, chemical engineering, petroleum, and other industrial applications. Due to its chaotic nature, churn flow has a significant influence on safety and management control. As one of the essential characteristics of churn flow, depth knowledge of the huge wave is crucial for a better understanding churn flow. However, relevant studies on these issues are still in shortage because it is difficult to capture its behaviours experimentally. In this study, we employed the high-speed camera to capture the evolution and properties of huge waves under churn flow conditions in a vertical pipe. The inner diameter of the pipe is 19 mm. Based on the observation, the flooding of the falling film in churn flow is demonstrated to be the slug/churn transition mechanism. Additionally, the liquid distribution in the cross-section of the tube is provided and discussed in detail. Compared with the existing experiment data, we carefully analyze the properties of huge waves, such as frequency and amplitude.