Experimental and numerical investigation of stratified gas–liquid flow in downward-inclined pipes

Resumo

This paper reports an experimental and numerical investigation of stratified gas–liquid two-phase flow in downward inclined circular pipes. Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes equations with the κ–ω turbulence model were solved by using the least-square finite-element method to simulate the stratified gas–liquid flow. Experiments were carried out in an air–water two-phase flow loop with a test section of 7.8 m long circular pipe with 1 inch inner diameter for 3 downward-inclined angles, −2.5◦, −5.0◦, and −10.0◦. The height of the liquid layer was measured by using a pulse–echo ultrasonic technique with a single fast transducer and a visualization technique with a high-speed digital camera.