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Modeling of pressure losses for the slug flow of a gas–liquid mixture in mini- and microchannels

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Abstract

In addition to the previously constructed model of the hydrodynamics of a gas-liquid slug flow, a mathematical model is developed that describes pressure losses taking into account the rearrangement of a velocity profile in liquid slugs and energy losses on the formation and renewal of interfacial area during the motion of bubbles. The contribution of different forms of pressure losses in capillaries is analyzed. It is shown that in microchannels tangential stresses on the surface of a bubble substantially affect the total pressure losses. It is found that the length of bubbles does not affect the rate of surface formation and respective pressure losses if bubbles have the same velocity. The results of modeling are in satisfactory agreement with experimental data of other researchers.

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  1. St. Petersburg State Institute of Technology, Moskovskii pr. 26, St. Petersburg, 190013, Russia

    R. Sh. Abiev

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  1. R. Sh. Abiev
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Correspondence to R. Sh. Abiev.

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Original Russian Text © R.Sh. Abiev, 2011, published in Teoreticheskie Osnovy Khimicheskoi Tekhnologii, 2011, Vol. 45, No. 2, pp. 170–177.

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Abiev, R.S. Modeling of pressure losses for the slug flow of a gas–liquid mixture in mini- and microchannels. Theor Found Chem Eng 45, 156–163 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0040579511020011

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