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Fundamental Equations for Two-Phase Flow in Tubes

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Handbook of Thermal Science and Engineering

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Abstract

Two-phase flow of gas and liquid is often encountered in the design and operation of heat exchangers, oil/gas transport lines, chemical and bioreactors, and mass transfer equipment. The two-phase pressure drop governs the pumping requirement in forced-circulation systems, while the pressure drop dictates the circulation rate and, hence, various system parameters in natural-circulation systems. All three components of pressure drop (gravitational, frictional, and accelerational) are dependent on void fraction or quality, so the design of energy systems and their performance are highly dependent on accurate predictions of both the two-phase pressure drop and void fraction. In this chapter, basic parameters are defined first, followed by descriptions of two-phase flow patterns, flow pattern maps and transition criteria, the conservation equations used in two-phase flow analyses, and the correlations and models available for predicting void fraction and pressure drop in simple flow channel geometries such as circular and noncircular tubes. In particular, advanced two-phase flow models including multidimensional two-fluid models and the constitutive relations for interfacial transfer terms are presented. Examples of two-dimensional and one-dimensional two-fluid models applied to predict radial void fraction distributions in bubbly flow and interfacial wave characteristics in inverted annular flow, respectively, are also described.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. City College of New York, New York, NY, USA

    Masahiro Kawaji

  2. University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Masahiro Kawaji

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  1. Masahiro Kawaji
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Correspondence to Masahiro Kawaji .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

    Francis A. Kulacki

Section Editor information

  1. Politecnica/COPPE, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro,, Rio de Janeiro, Brasília, Brazil

    Renato Cotta

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Riverside, California, USA

    Kambiz Vafai

  3. Herff College of Engineering, The University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee, USA

    Sumanta Acharya

  4. Gas Technology Institute, Illinois, Illinois, USA

    Yaroslav Chudnovsky

  5. Rm 8260, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Javad Mostaghimi

  6. Cekmeköy Campus, Özyegin University, Çekmeköy - Istanbul, Turkey

    Pinar Mengüc

  7. Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA

    Vijay K. Dhir

  8. Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California Los Angeles, 48-121 E4, Box 951597, 900095-1597, Los Angeles, California, USA

    Vijay K. Dhir

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Kawaji, M. (2017). Fundamental Equations for Two-Phase Flow in Tubes. In: Kulacki, F. (eds) Handbook of Thermal Science and Engineering. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32003-8_46-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32003-8_46-1

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