<p>The main purpose of this research is to investigate liquid entrainment mechanisms of annular flow by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques. A numerical model is developed. The model is based on the physics of an upward annular flow. In the modeling, a transient renormalization group (RNG) k-å model in conjunction with enhanced wall treatment method was employed. In order to reconstruct the two-phase interface, the geometric reconstruction scheme of volume of fluid (VOF) model was adopted. Fluent® 6.18 was used as the solution tool. Simulation results indicated that disturbance waves were generated first on the two-phase interface and their evolution eventually resulted in the liquid entrainment phenomena. The most significant accomplishment of this work is that details of the entrainment mechanisms are well described by the numerical simulation work. In addition, two new entrainment mechanisms are presented. One entrainment mechanism demonstrates that the evolution of individual waves causes the onset of liquid entrainment; the other mechanism shows that the coalescence of two adjacent waves (during the course of their evolution) plays an important role in the progression of liquid entrainment. The newly developed entrainment mechanisms are based on conservation laws. In order to explore the flow physics of the targeted annular flow, the law of the wall, in conjunction with an analytical model based on a force balance, was applied to previously collected experimental data. Results indicated that the film flow had strong features of near-wall flow. In addition, based on prior experimental work and a newly developed physical wave model by researchers in the Microgravity Research Group, University of Saskatchewan, a steady RNG k-å model, in conjunction with the enhanced wall treatment method, was applied to the gas core. The simulation results showed turbulent flow features in the gas core and strong effects of the interfacial waves on the simulation results. The above information forms the physical foundation for the simulation work on the entrainment mechanism.</p><p>One significant contribution to the authors research group is the liquid entrainment fraction data. A new method was introduced to make the measurements. The method combined a chemically-based titration method with a newly-designed instrument, a separator, to effectively measure the entrainment fraction. Experiments were conducted at low system pressure (~ 1 atm) and relatively low gas and liquid superficial velocities (Vsg = 25.8 m/s to 45.5 m/s, and Vsl = 0.15 m/s to 0.30 m/s, respectively). The entrainment fraction was found to be under 7 %, with a maximum uncertainty of 0.26 % for all the experimental set points. Repeatability test results and comparisons with previous entrainment data indicated that the new technique can perform as well as other measurement techniques.</p>

<p>The main purpose of this research is to investigate liquid entrainment mechanisms of annular flow by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques. A numerical model is developed. The model is based on the physics of an upward annular flow. In the modeling, a transient renormalization group (RNG) k-å model in conjunction with enhanced wall treatment method was employed. In order to reconstruct the two-phase interface, the geometric reconstruction scheme of volume of fluid (VOF) model was adopted. Fluent® 6.18 was used as the solution tool. Simulation results indicated that disturbance waves were generated first on the two-phase interface and their evolution eventually resulted in the liquid entrainment phenomena. The most significant accomplishment of this work is that details of the entrainment mechanisms are well described by the numerical simulation work. In addition, two new entrainment mechanisms are presented. One entrainment mechanism demonstrates that the evolution of individual waves causes the onset of liquid entrainment; the other mechanism shows that the coalescence of two adjacent waves (during the course of their evolution) plays an important role in the progression of liquid entrainment. The newly developed entrainment mechanisms are based on conservation laws. In order to explore the flow physics of the targeted annular flow, the law of the wall, in conjunction with an analytical model based on a force balance, was applied to previously collected experimental data. Results indicated that the film flow had strong features of near-wall flow. In addition, based on prior experimental work and a newly developed physical wave model by researchers in the Microgravity Research Group, University of Saskatchewan, a steady RNG k-å model, in conjunction with the enhanced wall treatment method, was applied to the gas core. The simulation results showed turbulent flow features in the gas core and strong effects of the interfacial waves on the simulation results. The above information forms the physical foundation for the simulation work on the entrainment mechanism.</p><p>One significant contribution to the authors research group is the liquid entrainment fraction data. A new method was introduced to make the measurements. The method combined a chemically-based titration method with a newly-designed instrument, a separator, to effectively measure the entrainment fraction. Experiments were conducted at low system pressure (~ 1 atm) and relatively low gas and liquid superficial velocities (Vsg = 25.8 m/s to 45.5 m/s, and Vsl = 0.15 m/s to 0.30 m/s, respectively). The entrainment fraction was found to be under 7 %, with a maximum uncertainty of 0.26 % for all the experimental set points. Repeatability test results and comparisons with previous entrainment data indicated that the new technique can perform as well as other measurement techniques.</p>

[pt] O escoamento anular é caracterizado por um núcleo gasoso fluindo a alta velocidade com um filme líquido no seu entorno, molhando a parede do duto. A presença de gotículas líquidas no núcleo gasoso resulta em impacto relevante em características do escoamento anular, como gradiente de pressão e propriedades das ondas presentes no filme líquido. A formação de gotículas se dá usualmente na crista das ondas de perturbação presentes na interface líquido-gás. No presente trabalho, é realizado um estudo do regime anular com presença de gotículas em tubulações verticais utilizando o Modelo de Dois Fluidos unidimensional. Um modelo de transferência de massa das gotículas é desenvolvido e acoplado ao modelo de Dois Fluidos. O modelo resultante permite capturar a evolução automática da interface gás-líquido e a formação de ondas de filme líquido e sua influência no desprendimento e deposição de gotículas. Analisa-se o desempenho de três modelos de entranhamento de gotículas disponíveis na literatura, além de um modelo de deposição de gotículas. Considerando que gotículas são criadas por cisalhamento nas cristas das ondas de perturbação, modificações dos modelos são propostas com a finalidade de melhor capturar a influência das ondas do filme líquido nos processos de entranhamento e deposição de gotículas. Parâmetros do escoamento como gradiente de pressão, espessura do filme do líquido e variáveis relacionadas com as ondas interfaciais são avaliados, mostrando boa concordância com dados experimentais disponíveis na literatura. / [en] Annular flow is characterized by a high velocity gas core flow, with a thin liquid film around it, wetting the pipe wall. The presence of liquid droplets in the gas core has relevant impact on annular flow characteristics, such as pressure drop and liquid film wave properties. Droplets are usually created by shear at disturbance wave crests, along the gas-liquid interface. At the present work, vertical annular flow with droplet entrainment is studied using the 1-D Two-Fluid model. A droplet mass transfer model is developed and coupled to the Two-Fluid model. The resulting model allows capturing the automatic evolution of the gas-liquid interface, liquid film wave formation and the waves influence on droplet entrainment and deposition. A performance analysis in carried out for three droplet entrainment models available in literature, as well as one deposition model. Taking into account that droplets are created by disturbance wave crest shearing, model modifications are proposed, aiming to better capture the influence of liquid film waves on droplet entrainment and deposition mechanisms. Flow parameters such as pressure drop, film thickness and wave features are evaluated, showing good agreement with experimental data found in literature.