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An experimental and numerical study on hydrodynamic characteristics of horizontal annular type water-air ejector

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Abstract

A water-driven annular type ejector loop is designed and constructed for air absorption. Fabricated ejector unit is horizontally installed in the loop, and annular water jet at the throat entrained atmospheric air through the circular pipe placed at the center of the ejector. The tested range of water flow rate is 160 L/min to 320 L/min and volumetric flow rate of water and air and local pressure are quantitatively measured using LabVIEW signal express program. For the quantitative measurement of bubble velocity, cinematic PIV technique using a high speed camera is adapted. In post processing, each bubble is used as seeding particles and ensemble averaged bubble velocity field at vertical plane of the ejector system is finally acquired. In the range of experiment, the bubble size distribution at downstream of the ejector seems to be quite uniform so that the flow can be classified as a homogeneous bubbly flow. In case of low range of water flow rate, the transition from bubbly flow to stratified flow occurs at the atmospheric outlet condition. As a comparative study, a numerical simulation on the same ejector shape is performed to understand the more detail hydrodynamic characteristics in the annular type ejector system. Homogeneous bubbly flow regime is used as default two-phase flow regime, and void fraction at the vertical plane of the ejector system is qualitatively compared with that of experiment. In volume flow rate comparison, numerical prediction agrees well with that of experiment where the homogeneous bubbly flow is maintained.

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Correspondence to Kyung Chun Kim.

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Recommended by Editor-in-Chief Haecheon Choi

Yoon Kee Kim, Ph.D., is a candidate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Pusan National University. He received his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Pusan National University in 2004. His main research interest is fluid mechanics and fluid dynamics, two-phase flow, renewable energy, wind power, and computational fluid dynamics.

Dong Yeop Lee is a new recruit in TANKTECH Co., Korea. He received his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Pusan National University in 2012. His main research interest is fluid mechanics, design and fabrication of marine products.

Hyun Dong Kim, Ph.D., is a candidate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Pusan National University. He received his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Pusan National University in 2005. His main research interest is the development of fluid measurement techniques such as micro-PIV, micro-LIF in micro scale.

Joo Ha Ahn is currently an Engineering project manager in TANKTECH Co., Korea. He received his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Pusan National University in 1999. His main research interest is fluid mechanics, design and fabrication of marine products.

Kyung Chun Kim is currently a Professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering of Pusan National University and vice president of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers (KSME). He obtained the Ph.D. from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Korea, in 1987. His research interests are multi-scale multi-physics measurements such as micro-PIV/LIF, bio-MEMS, design and fabrication of thermal management system, organic Rankine cycle, renewable energy, etc.

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Kim, Y.K., Lee, D.Y., Kim, H.D. et al. An experimental and numerical study on hydrodynamic characteristics of horizontal annular type water-air ejector. J Mech Sci Technol 26, 2773–2781 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-012-0724-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-012-0724-9

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