Gaseous dispersion in laminar flow through a circular tube

Abstract

The dispersion of a pulse of ethylene injected into nitrogen, flowing in the laminar régime through straight and curved tubes, has been investigated at pressures of 1.0 and 4.4 atm. From the study of the concentration profiles with a thermal conductivity detector (katharometer) it is found that the experimental results for gas velocities between 1.00 and 16.00 cm/s agree well with the analytical solution to this problem for a straight tube given by Sir Geoffrey Taylor and extended by Aris. In particular, at low velocities, the effective dispersion coefficients tend to the molecular diffusivities. The presence of a bend slightly reduces the effective longitudinal dispersion coefficient and the introduction of constrictions enhances it. Data are also given on a number of other gas pairs. It is concluded that measurements of dispersion provide an accurate and simple way of studying diffusion in gas mixtures.