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Hydrodynamic behaviors of air–water two-phase flow during the water lifting in a bubble generator type of airlift pump system

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Abstract

The effects of submergence ratio and gas flow rate on the performance and hydrodynamic behavior of air–liquid two-phase flow have been investigated during liquid lifting in the developed bubble-generator-type airlift pump system. Here, a mechanistic model was also developed to predict the performance of the bubble-generator-type airlift pump system on the basis of pressure balance with considering the intake angle of the injector, and the suction pipe length. A developed image processing technique was implemented to determine the hydrodynamic behaviors including gas slug velocity, water slug velocity, slug length, and gas hold up under the various submergence ratio and gas flow rate. The submergence ratio is the ratio between the static lift and the sum of static lift and static head. The experimental result was found that the minimum air flow rate for removing water is reduced by 19.17% when the airlift pump is combined with an orifice-type bubble generator. The decrease in submergence ratio causes the lower the efficiency at the critical point of airlift pump-bubble generator. Under the same submergence ratio, an increase in the supplied air superficial velocity increased the hydrodynamic parameter. A mechanistic model from pressure balance and dimensional analysis have a maximum error of 11.97% and 3.33%, respectively.

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Abbreviations

A :

Area (m2)

\(d\) :

Pipe diameter (pixel)

D:

Pipe diameter (meter)

E:

Effectiveness

f :

Friction factor

FR:

Frame rate (frame/s)

\(K\) :

Loss coefficient

L :

Length (m)

N:

Number of injector hole

\(\dot{M}\) :

Mass flow rate (kg/s)

P :

Pressure (Pa)

Q :

Volumetric flow rate (m3/s)

\(Re\) :

Reynolds number

s :

Slip ratio

SR :

Submergence ratio

t :

Time (second)

v :

Velocity (m/s)

w :

Weight (N)

x :

Vapor quality

\(\mathrm{y}\) :

The ordinate of slug (pixel

\(\epsilon\) :

Surface roughness (m)

\(\varepsilon\) :

Volumetric fraction

\(\eta\) :

Efficiency

\(\Delta F\) :

Number of the image between the first to last images (frame)

\(\Delta P\) :

Pressure drop (Pa)

\(\rho\) :

Density (kg/m3)

\(\tau\) :

Shear stress (Pa)

\(\theta\) :

Intake angle of injectors

\(\delta\) :

Film thickness (m

af:

First air slug nose

al:

Last air slug nose

CD:

Point C-D

DE:

Point D-E

EF:

Point E–F

G :

Gas

i :

Injector

in :

Inlet

L :

Liquid

LG :

Liquid–Gas

N :

Nose

out :

Outlet

P :

Pump

S :

Slug

T :

Tail

wf :

First water slug nose

wl :

Last water slug nose

1 :

Suction pipe

2 :

Riser pipe

3 :

Discharge pipe

SR :

Submergence ratio

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Acknowledgements

The current study was conducted within the framework of an ongoing research project in the Multiphase Flow Research Group, Fluid Mechanics Laboratory, Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia. The authors would like to thank Achmad, Faishal, Riva, Dedi, Agung Setio, Rhamdani, Ian, Nurmala, Aqhid, Katon, Ramsey, and Dhika for supporting the design, manufacturing apparatus, and also the collecting data. IGNB. Catrawedarma acknowledges the Ministry of Research, Technology, and Higher Education of the Republic of Indonesia for financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Politeknik Negeri Banyuwangi, Jalan Raya Jember Km. 13, Banyuwangi, 68461, Indonesia

    IGNB. Catrawedarma

  2. Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Jalan Grafika No. 2, Yogyakarta, 55281, Indonesia

    Deendarlianto &  Indarto

  3. Centre for Energy Studies, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Sekip K-1A, Kampus UGM, Yogyakarta, 55281, Indonesia

    Deendarlianto &  Indarto

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Catrawedarma, I., Deendarlianto & Indarto Hydrodynamic behaviors of air–water two-phase flow during the water lifting in a bubble generator type of airlift pump system. Heat Mass Transfer 58, 1005–1026 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-021-03157-z

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