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GAS-LIQUID TWO-PHASE FLOW PATTERN DETERMINATION FOR VERTICALMICROCHANNEL
Marlina Marzuki
TA Bachelor of Engineering with Honours 3575 (Chemical Engineering)
M84 2013 M348 2013
PKHIDMAT AKLUAT AKADEMIIC UNIMAS ltSARAWAK
1111111111111111111111111 Grade _ _ -----___1000268845
Please tick (J) Final Year Project Report CIJ Masters 0 PhD D
DECLARATION OF ORIGINAL WORK
This declaration is made on the fQ day ofM~y 2013
Students Declaration
I M~RLlliAMARZ1JqV~sect~)REITQfCHEMJ~MENGJNEERlNGANRSlJSINNMJLJJY fAC1LIyQLENQlliEERJNQ hereby declare that the work entitled G~S~~lQJJP JWQ-PHASE fLQWPATIERNRJJERMlliA1]QNfQRYERI1~MMCRQ~HANNEL is my original work I have not copied from any other students work or from any other sources except where due reference or acknowledgement is made explicitly in the text nor has any part been written for me by another person
fQMAy~QJ~ MARLlliAMARZJKJ-ltZJ9gt~ Date submitted Name of the student (Matric No)
Supervisors Declaration
I ASS9crRQf RR~NRJJRQN~AN~WLAH hereby certifies that the work entitled QA$ LJQlJIQJWQ~PHASEf~QWrAIIERNPEIJRMlliAnQNfQRYERIJcMMJCRoCHANNEL was prepared by the above named student and was submitted to the FACULTY as a partialfull
fulfillment for the confennent of ~8CHELQRQfENQlliEERlli~LWJJHHQNQ1RScCHEMC~ ENGlliEERlliG and the aforementioned work to the best of my knowledge is the said students work
Received for examination by A~~QCJ~ROf RRJ9iNRJRRJNSAN8lJJ_LAH Date ZQMAy~QU (Name of the supervisor)
I declare that Projectffhesis is classified as (Please tick CJraquo
D CONFIDENTIAL (Contains confidential information under the Official Secret Act 1972) DRESTRICTED (Contains restricted information as specified by the organisation where research
was done)
rnOPEN ACCESS
Validation of ProjectThesis
I therefore duly affirmed with free consent and willingness declare that this said Projectffhesis shall be placed officially in the Centre for Academic Information Services with the abiding interest and rights as follows
bull This Projectffhesis is the sole legal property of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNlMAS)
bull The Centre for Academic Information Services has the lawful right to make copies for the purpose of academic and research only and not for other purpose
bull The Centre for Academic Information Services has the lawful right to digitalise the content for the Local Content Database
bull The Centre for Academic Information Services has the lawful right to make copies of the Projectffhesis for academic exchange between Higher Learning Institute
bull No dispute or any claim shall arise from the student itself neither third party on this Projectffhesis once it becomes the sole property ofUNIMAS
bull This Projectffhesis or any material data and information related to it shall not be distributed published or disclosed to any party by the student except with UNIMAS permission
-t---I IStudent signature ___________ Supervisor signature _k_~_(tt_20 MAY 2013 20 MAY 2013
Current Address DT 0186 KG DURIAN TUNJUNG PO BOX 81882 87028 LABUAN FT
Notes If the ProjectlThesis is CONFIDENTIAL or RESTRICTED please attach together as annexure a letter from the organisation with the period and reasons ofconfidentiality and restriction
[The instrument is duly prepared by The Centre for Academic Information Services]
APPROVAL SHEET
This final year report which entitled Gas-Liquid Two-Phase Flow Pattern
Determination for Vertical Microchannel was prepared by Marlina Marzuki
(23965) is hereby read and approved by
ASSOC PROF DR KHAIRUDDIN SANAULLAH Date
(Project Supervisor)
Pusat Khidmat Makiumat Akademi UNIVERSm MALAVSIA SARAW~
GAS-LIQUID TWO-PHASE FLOW PATTERN
DETERMINATION FOR VERTICAL MICROCHANNEL
MARLINA MARZUKI
Thesis is submitted to
Faculty of Engineering Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
For the Degree of Bachelor of Engineering
With Honours (Chemical Engineering)
2013
-~~----------------=-=~~=====================z shy
Dedicated to my beloved family and friends
ii
- shy
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to thank my supervisor Assoc Prof Dr Khairuddin Sanaullah
of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak from Chemical Engineering department for his
invaluable supervision guidance and support towards the completion of this thesis I
would also like to extend my gratitude to Mr Afrasyab Khan for his contribution and
encouragement throughout the course of this project Last but not least my deepest
gratitude and appreciation goes to my beloved family and friends for their infinite
love support and motivations along completing my four year undergraduate study
ABSTRACT
Microchannel has gradually received attention due to its high surface to volume ratio
which indirectly resulted in high rate of heat and mass transfer To achieve more
efficient system it is likely that one should have the basic understanding on the flow
morphologies at the microscale Currently many industrial applications such as heat
exchanger bubble columns pneumatic transport pollution control and many others
facing the multi phase flow condition Multiphase flow can be defined as the
simultaneous flow of more than one phase such as gas-solid gas-liquid as well as
gas-liquid-solid flows Each of those multiphase flows produces different flow
regimes It is identified that studies on the flow regimes are important due to the
greater influence on the heat transfer rate as well as the hydrodynamics
characteristics of the flow Thus throughout this project numerical study with the
application of Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) software is perform to model
simulate and observe the flow regimes mapped for gas-liquid multiphase flow in a
vertically oriented microchannel
iv
ABSTRAK
Saluran mikro kini telah beransur-ansur mendapat perhatian kerana nisbah jumlah
luas permukaan kepada isi padunya yang besar secara tidak lansung menghasilkan
kadar pemindahan haba dan jisim yang tinggi Untuk mendapatkan sistem yang lebih
efisien adalah penting bagi seseorang untuk mempunyai kefahaman asas mengenai
morfologi aliran pad a skala mikro Pad a mas a ini terdapat pelbagai aplikasi industri
yang mengalami situasi aliran berbilang fasa seperti penukar haba kolom
gelembung pengangkutan pneumatik kawalan pencemaran dan lain-lain Aliran
berbilang fasa boleh ditakrifkan sebagai aliran serentak yang melibatkan lebih
daripada satu fasa seperti aliran gas-pepejal gas-cecair serta gas-cecair-pepejal
Setiap jenis aliran berbilang fasa menghasilkan rejim aliran yang berbeza Kajian
terhadap rejim aliran adalah penting kerana pengaruhnya yang besar terhadap kadar
permindahan haba serta ciri-ciri hidronamik aliran Oleh itu melalui projek ini
kaj ian berangka dengan menggunakan dinamika fluida pengkomputeran telah
dijalankan bagi memerhati aliran rejim yang dikenal pasti untuk gas-cecair aliran
berbilang fasa dalam sa luran mikro yang menegak
v
Pusat Khidmat Maklumat Akademi iJ [ VERSm MALAYSIA SA vA
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
TITLE PAGE
DEDICATION II
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Xlll
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT III
ABSTRACT IV
ABSTRAK V
TABLE OF CONTENTS VI
LIST OF TABLES IX
LIST OF FIGURES X
LIST OF SYMBOLS XII
LIST OF NOMENCLATURE XIV
Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION
11 Multiphase Flow
111 Dispersed Phase and Separated Flows 2
112 Gas-Liquid Flow 3
113 Gas-Solid Flow 3
114 Liquid-Solid Flow 4
11 5 Three-Phase Flows 4
12 Industrial Application Involving Multiphase Flow 5
13 Microchannel 6
14 Overview of Flow Pattern 7
15 Problem Statement 9
16 Objectives and Scopes of Study 9
17 Additional Information of Report 10
vi
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
LITERA TURE REVIEW
21 Materials and Fabrication Technique 11
211 Machining 12
22 Dimensionless Number and Forces Dominate in Microchannel 12
221 Surface Tension 14
23 Two-phase Gas-Liquid Flow 15
24 Mixing in Microchannel 19
25 Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) 22
251 Volume of Fluid (VOF) Model 23
252 Mixture Model 24
253 Eulerian Model 24
26 Flow Patterns in Vertical Upflow 25
METHODOLOGY
31 Introduction 28
32 Objective 29
33 Phase One 29
331 Literature Review 30
332 Design Criteria 30
333 Experimental Setup 31
34 Phase Two 32
341 Experimental Design 33
342 Identify the Domain 34
343 Create a Solid Model of the Domain 35
344 Design and Create the Mesh 36
345 Set Up the Solver 39
346 Compute the Solution 41
347 Examine the Result 42
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
41 Introduction 43
411 Simulation 3 44
412 Simulation 4 47
413 Simulation 5 49
414 Simulation 6 51
vii
415 Simulation 7
42 Discussion
Chapter 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
51 Conclusions
52 Recommendations
REFERENCES
APPENDIX
viii
53
55
57
58
59
68
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
I
20 Density and Surface Tension of Water Against Air at Various 14
Temperatures (Weast and Astle 1982)
30 Dimensions of Capillaries 35
31 Determination of Cell Quality 37
32 Details of Mesh 37
33 Material Properties 40
34 Problem Setup 40
40 Result for the Simulation 43
ix
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
21 Flow Regimes Map (Saisorn and Wongwises 2011) 16
Two-phase Flow Regimes Map for a 100 Jlm Microchannel 22 18
(Kawahara et aI 2002)
23 T - junctions
T - junction with gas and liquid inlet perpendicular to the 23a 20
main channel
T- junction with either gas or liquid inlet is in the direction 23b 20
of the main channel
24 y- junction 21
25 Cross- junction 21
26 Flow- focusing 21
27 Flow Patterns in Vertical Upflow (Azzopardi nd) 26
Steps Involved in Developing the Methodologies for the Design 31 28
Project
32 Subjects Reviewed in Literature Review 30
33 Steps Involved in Determining the Design Criteria 31
34 Steps Involved in Preparation of Complete Experimental Facility 32
35 Adjusted Design of the Microchannel 34
36 Final Design for the Microchannel 34
37 Overall Test Section 35
38 3D Domain(Bakker 2002) 36
39 Meshing for Air Capillary 38
310 Meshing for Water Capillary 38
311 Meshing for Multiphase Capillary 39
312 Steps Involved in Solver Setting 39
41 Contours of Volume Fraction (Air) for Simulation 3 44
42 Overall Figure for Simulation 3 45
x
43 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 3 46
44 Overall Figure for Simulation 4 47
45 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 4 48
46 Overall Figure for Simulation 5 49
47 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 5 50
48 Overall Figure for Simulation 6 51
49 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 6 52
410 Overall Figure for Simulation 7 53
411 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 7 54
412 Annular Flow (taken from Saisom and Wongwises 2011) 55
413 Annular Flow (Simulation 7) 55
xi
J
0
LIST OF SYMBOLS
D Diameter
jo Superficial velocity for gas
JL Superficial velocity for liquid
p Secondary phase
q Primary phase
Qo Volumetric flowrate for gas
QL Volumetric flowrate for liquid
Re Reynolds
St Stokes
va vp Velocity of gas
VL Vq Velocity of liquid
vqp Slip velocity
Degree
degc Degree Celsius
y Surface tension
(4) Velocity ratio
a Void fraction
xii
-----
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
3D 3-Dimensional
CFD Computational Fluid Dynamic
CMC Carboxymethyl Cellulose
SDS Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate
VOF Volume of Fluid
xiii
LIST OF NOMENCLATURE
abn Atmosphere
cm Centimeter
dynecm Dyne per centimeter
glcm3 Gram per cubic meter
JkgmiddotK Joule per kilogram kelvin
kglmmiddots Kilogram per meter second
kglm3 Kilogram per cubic meter
mm Millimeter
mls Meter per second
mls2 Meter per square second
Nm Newton per meter
WmmiddotK Watts per meter kelvin
J1 Micron
J1m Micrometer
xiv
CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION
11 Multiphase Flow
A phase may refer to states of matter which include solid liquid and vapor
(Crowe and Michaelides 2006) Then a multiphase flow can be defined as the
simultaneous flow of a mixture of different states or phases such as gas-liquid gasshy
solid liquid-solid or gas-liquid-solid Multiphase flow specifically two-phase flows
are found in wide range of industrial applications which comprise power generation
hydrocarbon recovery and processing food manufacturing as well as in most aspects
of chemical engineering such as distillation absorption evaporation condensation
and many others As for the extraction and transportation of crude oil from the
reservoir up to the surface it involves various phases that are gas oil water and
solids Even more complex cases have been facing the industry as the formations of
hydrates and wax frequently occur in the production line
As mentioned previously there are several combinations of multi phase flows
For each combination that flows in a given channel various form of interfacial
distributions that are also called as flow patterns are observed Out of the four types
of flow that have been listed gas-liquid flow is identified as the most complex flow
due to the combination of characteristics that involve deformable interface and the
compressibility of one of the phases (Ghajar 2005 Rahman Heidrick and Fleck
Chapter 1 Introduction
2009) Besides classification of multiphase flow is not as simple as single-phase
flow since there is several other factors need to be considered in a multi scale
structured flow such as pressure drop geometry of the channel heat flux surface
tension and several others In single-phase flow the indication of flow characteristic
is basically based on the information that includes the type of flow which is either
laminar or turbulent as well as the existence of flow separation or secondary flows
In this paper an overvIew of gas-liquid flow in a circular cross section
microchannel is given Liquid and gas are mixed in the mixing chamber and entered
the multi phase micro-capillary hence produced several significance flow patterns
The flow morphologies of mixtures made of water and air produced at the
micrometer scale flowing in a channel of circular cross section are then studied
111 Dispersed Phase and Separated Flows
According to Corradini (1998) there are two basic types of flow patterns that
have been identified which are dispersed and stratified Dispersed flow is a type of
flow in where one phase which is in the form of discrete element is dispersed or
distributed in the other continuous phase (Patel 2010) The discrete element may be
in the form of finite particles drops or bubbles There are few examples of flow that
can be used to explain dispersed phase As in the cases for gas-solid and liquid-solid
flows the discrete elements are always in the solid phase since solid particles are not
connected with each other Meanwhile the dispersed phase in gas-liquid flow is
primarily affected by the flow rates of both phases involved For instance bubbly
flow pattern is obtained as the flow rate of the gas is significantly lower than the
liquid flow rate In addition the shape or size of the dispersed phase is governed by
2
Chapter 1 Introduction
everal factors that include balance of buoyancy inertial and surface tension forces
(Corradini 1998)
Meanwhile stratified flow is a type of flow in where the two phases involved
are separated by a distinct line of contact (Patel 2010) In contrast with bubbly flow
greater flow rate of gas phase has resulted in vertical annular flow pattern in where
there is a liquid layer along the pipe wall alongside a gaseous inner core In other
words as for the cases of horizontal and vertical flows the two different streams are
separated from each other yet travel along in the same medium due to the density and
mass flowrate differences respectively (Corradini 1998)
112 Gas-Liquid Flow
Gas-liquid flow is characterized with the flow of two phases in which one of
the phases is in gaseous form while the other is in liquid form This combination of
flows in pipes has resulted in various configurations or flow patterns ranging from
bubbly flow to annular flow There are several industries that utilize the application
of gas-liquid flow which include bubble columns the generation of small droplets
for combustion in power generation system as well as the formation of droplet for
spray forming especially in materials processing
113 Gas-Solid Flow
Flow of gas phase together with suspended solid particles best described gasshy
solid flow This type of flow has been widely used to many industrial applications
which include pneumatic transport pollution control and so on For pneumatic
3
Chapter 1 Introduction
transport it is the main method of transporting solid materials According to (Crowe
2011) in vertical up-flow orientation the velocity of the gas has to be greater than
the settling velocity of the particles in order to maintain the transport
114 Liquid-Solid Flow
Liquid-solid flow involves the flow of solid particles that are carried via the
liquid phase This type of flow can be classified under dispersed phase flow due to
the dispersion of solid particles within the continuous liquid phase The discrete
elements are conveyed through the channel by the drag and pressure forces exerted
by the liquid phase (Weber 2010) The distribution of solid particles in the flow is
dependent on several factors which involve the properties of solid and carrier liquid
parameters of the channel flow direction and many others Liquid-solid fluidization
sedimentation and filtration are some typical examples of liquid-solid flow Those
mentioned applications are mostly used in the industry for the purpose of separation
115 Three-Phase Flows
Other than gas-liquid gas-solid and liquid-solid flows three-phase flow is
another example of multi phase flows that is encountered in engineering applications
An example for three-phase flow is the occurrence of bubbles in slurry which in
returns have produced three-phase flows flowing together There are not much
literature or related materials on this type of flow yet this flow is identified to be
interesting branch of study for multiphase flows
4
Pusat Khidmat MaldumatAkademil Chapter 1 Ul1lElSm tAJAVSIA SARAWA Introduction
12 Industrial Application Involving Multiphase Flow
As mentioned earlier multiphase fluid flows can be found in various
industrial processes or applications One of the most common examples is the
application of bubble column Bubble column device is where gas that is in the form
of bubbles come in contact with liquid with the main objective which is to mix the
liquid phase (Zehner and Kraume 2005) This device is commonly used as
multiphase contactors and reactors especially in chemical biochemical and
petrochemical industries since they offer several benefits during operation and
maintenance which include high heat and mass transfer rates compactness as well
as low operating and maintenance cost (Kantarci Borak and Ulgen 2004)
In bubble column the liquid may flow in either two ways which are coshy
current or counter-current to the gas flow direction An example of the simplest
bubble column is the one that consists of a vertical tube with no internals or in other
words the column is installed without any trays packings or shafts Besides for
simplest design of bubble column the gas is fed into the column at the bottom pass
through the liquid and later escaping from the upper surface If the released gas
contains high concentration of valuable reactants recycle design can be
implemented To date the simplest form of bubble column is rarely used since
numerous types of modifications are employed in order to achieve more efficient
design system
According to Kantarci et al (2004) there are three types of flow regimes that
are commonly found in bubbles columns that are bubbly flow churn-turbulent flow
and slug flow regime These flow regimes are determined according to the
superficial gas velocity applied in the column Based on the literature written by
5
Chapter 1 Introduction
previous authors bubbly flow regime is obtained at low superficial gas velocities
meanwhile churn-turbulent regime started to develop at higher superficial gas
velocities For slug flow regime it has been only conducted and observed in a smallshy
scale diameter laboratory columns at high gas flow rates (Hyndman and Larachi
1997)
13 Microchannel
Microchannel can be defined as channel with dimension that is less than 1
mm and greater than I micron (~) (Sharp et aI 2005) For other dimensions that are
above 1 mm the behaviors of the flow are observed to be the same as most
macroscopic flows Microchannel has gradually received attention due to the several
benefits offered which include high surface to volume ratio high throughput in
parallel processing reduction in the volume of sample required and many others
Greater surface to volume ratio has resulted in high rate of heat and mass transfer or
in other words enhance the heat transfer rates (Kandlikar 2012 Qian and Lawai
2006) In returns micro device has become an excellent and preferable tool for heat
exchanger
As the dimension scale is reduced to micrometric scale surface to volume
ratio has become significantly important Surface tension as well as viscous force has
dominated the system as compared to gravitational force (Ahmed-Orner and Wirth
2008) In other words the flow regimes observed for two-phase flows in
microchannel are different from the regimes mapped in larger channels (Ventakesan
et aI 2010) Surface tension is originated from the intermolecular forces in which
this forces are generally negligible at macrometric scale (Bayraktar and Pidugu
6
PKHIDMAT AKLUAT AKADEMIIC UNIMAS ltSARAWAK
1111111111111111111111111 Grade _ _ -----___1000268845
Please tick (J) Final Year Project Report CIJ Masters 0 PhD D
DECLARATION OF ORIGINAL WORK
This declaration is made on the fQ day ofM~y 2013
Students Declaration
I M~RLlliAMARZ1JqV~sect~)REITQfCHEMJ~MENGJNEERlNGANRSlJSINNMJLJJY fAC1LIyQLENQlliEERJNQ hereby declare that the work entitled G~S~~lQJJP JWQ-PHASE fLQWPATIERNRJJERMlliA1]QNfQRYERI1~MMCRQ~HANNEL is my original work I have not copied from any other students work or from any other sources except where due reference or acknowledgement is made explicitly in the text nor has any part been written for me by another person
fQMAy~QJ~ MARLlliAMARZJKJ-ltZJ9gt~ Date submitted Name of the student (Matric No)
Supervisors Declaration
I ASS9crRQf RR~NRJJRQN~AN~WLAH hereby certifies that the work entitled QA$ LJQlJIQJWQ~PHASEf~QWrAIIERNPEIJRMlliAnQNfQRYERIJcMMJCRoCHANNEL was prepared by the above named student and was submitted to the FACULTY as a partialfull
fulfillment for the confennent of ~8CHELQRQfENQlliEERlli~LWJJHHQNQ1RScCHEMC~ ENGlliEERlliG and the aforementioned work to the best of my knowledge is the said students work
Received for examination by A~~QCJ~ROf RRJ9iNRJRRJNSAN8lJJ_LAH Date ZQMAy~QU (Name of the supervisor)
I declare that Projectffhesis is classified as (Please tick CJraquo
D CONFIDENTIAL (Contains confidential information under the Official Secret Act 1972) DRESTRICTED (Contains restricted information as specified by the organisation where research
was done)
rnOPEN ACCESS
Validation of ProjectThesis
I therefore duly affirmed with free consent and willingness declare that this said Projectffhesis shall be placed officially in the Centre for Academic Information Services with the abiding interest and rights as follows
bull This Projectffhesis is the sole legal property of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNlMAS)
bull The Centre for Academic Information Services has the lawful right to make copies for the purpose of academic and research only and not for other purpose
bull The Centre for Academic Information Services has the lawful right to digitalise the content for the Local Content Database
bull The Centre for Academic Information Services has the lawful right to make copies of the Projectffhesis for academic exchange between Higher Learning Institute
bull No dispute or any claim shall arise from the student itself neither third party on this Projectffhesis once it becomes the sole property ofUNIMAS
bull This Projectffhesis or any material data and information related to it shall not be distributed published or disclosed to any party by the student except with UNIMAS permission
-t---I IStudent signature ___________ Supervisor signature _k_~_(tt_20 MAY 2013 20 MAY 2013
Current Address DT 0186 KG DURIAN TUNJUNG PO BOX 81882 87028 LABUAN FT
Notes If the ProjectlThesis is CONFIDENTIAL or RESTRICTED please attach together as annexure a letter from the organisation with the period and reasons ofconfidentiality and restriction
[The instrument is duly prepared by The Centre for Academic Information Services]
APPROVAL SHEET
This final year report which entitled Gas-Liquid Two-Phase Flow Pattern
Determination for Vertical Microchannel was prepared by Marlina Marzuki
(23965) is hereby read and approved by
ASSOC PROF DR KHAIRUDDIN SANAULLAH Date
(Project Supervisor)
Pusat Khidmat Makiumat Akademi UNIVERSm MALAVSIA SARAW~
GAS-LIQUID TWO-PHASE FLOW PATTERN
DETERMINATION FOR VERTICAL MICROCHANNEL
MARLINA MARZUKI
Thesis is submitted to
Faculty of Engineering Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
For the Degree of Bachelor of Engineering
With Honours (Chemical Engineering)
2013
-~~----------------=-=~~=====================z shy
Dedicated to my beloved family and friends
ii
- shy
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to thank my supervisor Assoc Prof Dr Khairuddin Sanaullah
of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak from Chemical Engineering department for his
invaluable supervision guidance and support towards the completion of this thesis I
would also like to extend my gratitude to Mr Afrasyab Khan for his contribution and
encouragement throughout the course of this project Last but not least my deepest
gratitude and appreciation goes to my beloved family and friends for their infinite
love support and motivations along completing my four year undergraduate study
ABSTRACT
Microchannel has gradually received attention due to its high surface to volume ratio
which indirectly resulted in high rate of heat and mass transfer To achieve more
efficient system it is likely that one should have the basic understanding on the flow
morphologies at the microscale Currently many industrial applications such as heat
exchanger bubble columns pneumatic transport pollution control and many others
facing the multi phase flow condition Multiphase flow can be defined as the
simultaneous flow of more than one phase such as gas-solid gas-liquid as well as
gas-liquid-solid flows Each of those multiphase flows produces different flow
regimes It is identified that studies on the flow regimes are important due to the
greater influence on the heat transfer rate as well as the hydrodynamics
characteristics of the flow Thus throughout this project numerical study with the
application of Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) software is perform to model
simulate and observe the flow regimes mapped for gas-liquid multiphase flow in a
vertically oriented microchannel
iv
ABSTRAK
Saluran mikro kini telah beransur-ansur mendapat perhatian kerana nisbah jumlah
luas permukaan kepada isi padunya yang besar secara tidak lansung menghasilkan
kadar pemindahan haba dan jisim yang tinggi Untuk mendapatkan sistem yang lebih
efisien adalah penting bagi seseorang untuk mempunyai kefahaman asas mengenai
morfologi aliran pad a skala mikro Pad a mas a ini terdapat pelbagai aplikasi industri
yang mengalami situasi aliran berbilang fasa seperti penukar haba kolom
gelembung pengangkutan pneumatik kawalan pencemaran dan lain-lain Aliran
berbilang fasa boleh ditakrifkan sebagai aliran serentak yang melibatkan lebih
daripada satu fasa seperti aliran gas-pepejal gas-cecair serta gas-cecair-pepejal
Setiap jenis aliran berbilang fasa menghasilkan rejim aliran yang berbeza Kajian
terhadap rejim aliran adalah penting kerana pengaruhnya yang besar terhadap kadar
permindahan haba serta ciri-ciri hidronamik aliran Oleh itu melalui projek ini
kaj ian berangka dengan menggunakan dinamika fluida pengkomputeran telah
dijalankan bagi memerhati aliran rejim yang dikenal pasti untuk gas-cecair aliran
berbilang fasa dalam sa luran mikro yang menegak
v
Pusat Khidmat Maklumat Akademi iJ [ VERSm MALAYSIA SA vA
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
TITLE PAGE
DEDICATION II
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Xlll
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT III
ABSTRACT IV
ABSTRAK V
TABLE OF CONTENTS VI
LIST OF TABLES IX
LIST OF FIGURES X
LIST OF SYMBOLS XII
LIST OF NOMENCLATURE XIV
Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION
11 Multiphase Flow
111 Dispersed Phase and Separated Flows 2
112 Gas-Liquid Flow 3
113 Gas-Solid Flow 3
114 Liquid-Solid Flow 4
11 5 Three-Phase Flows 4
12 Industrial Application Involving Multiphase Flow 5
13 Microchannel 6
14 Overview of Flow Pattern 7
15 Problem Statement 9
16 Objectives and Scopes of Study 9
17 Additional Information of Report 10
vi
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
LITERA TURE REVIEW
21 Materials and Fabrication Technique 11
211 Machining 12
22 Dimensionless Number and Forces Dominate in Microchannel 12
221 Surface Tension 14
23 Two-phase Gas-Liquid Flow 15
24 Mixing in Microchannel 19
25 Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) 22
251 Volume of Fluid (VOF) Model 23
252 Mixture Model 24
253 Eulerian Model 24
26 Flow Patterns in Vertical Upflow 25
METHODOLOGY
31 Introduction 28
32 Objective 29
33 Phase One 29
331 Literature Review 30
332 Design Criteria 30
333 Experimental Setup 31
34 Phase Two 32
341 Experimental Design 33
342 Identify the Domain 34
343 Create a Solid Model of the Domain 35
344 Design and Create the Mesh 36
345 Set Up the Solver 39
346 Compute the Solution 41
347 Examine the Result 42
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
41 Introduction 43
411 Simulation 3 44
412 Simulation 4 47
413 Simulation 5 49
414 Simulation 6 51
vii
415 Simulation 7
42 Discussion
Chapter 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
51 Conclusions
52 Recommendations
REFERENCES
APPENDIX
viii
53
55
57
58
59
68
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
I
20 Density and Surface Tension of Water Against Air at Various 14
Temperatures (Weast and Astle 1982)
30 Dimensions of Capillaries 35
31 Determination of Cell Quality 37
32 Details of Mesh 37
33 Material Properties 40
34 Problem Setup 40
40 Result for the Simulation 43
ix
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
21 Flow Regimes Map (Saisorn and Wongwises 2011) 16
Two-phase Flow Regimes Map for a 100 Jlm Microchannel 22 18
(Kawahara et aI 2002)
23 T - junctions
T - junction with gas and liquid inlet perpendicular to the 23a 20
main channel
T- junction with either gas or liquid inlet is in the direction 23b 20
of the main channel
24 y- junction 21
25 Cross- junction 21
26 Flow- focusing 21
27 Flow Patterns in Vertical Upflow (Azzopardi nd) 26
Steps Involved in Developing the Methodologies for the Design 31 28
Project
32 Subjects Reviewed in Literature Review 30
33 Steps Involved in Determining the Design Criteria 31
34 Steps Involved in Preparation of Complete Experimental Facility 32
35 Adjusted Design of the Microchannel 34
36 Final Design for the Microchannel 34
37 Overall Test Section 35
38 3D Domain(Bakker 2002) 36
39 Meshing for Air Capillary 38
310 Meshing for Water Capillary 38
311 Meshing for Multiphase Capillary 39
312 Steps Involved in Solver Setting 39
41 Contours of Volume Fraction (Air) for Simulation 3 44
42 Overall Figure for Simulation 3 45
x
43 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 3 46
44 Overall Figure for Simulation 4 47
45 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 4 48
46 Overall Figure for Simulation 5 49
47 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 5 50
48 Overall Figure for Simulation 6 51
49 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 6 52
410 Overall Figure for Simulation 7 53
411 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 7 54
412 Annular Flow (taken from Saisom and Wongwises 2011) 55
413 Annular Flow (Simulation 7) 55
xi
J
0
LIST OF SYMBOLS
D Diameter
jo Superficial velocity for gas
JL Superficial velocity for liquid
p Secondary phase
q Primary phase
Qo Volumetric flowrate for gas
QL Volumetric flowrate for liquid
Re Reynolds
St Stokes
va vp Velocity of gas
VL Vq Velocity of liquid
vqp Slip velocity
Degree
degc Degree Celsius
y Surface tension
(4) Velocity ratio
a Void fraction
xii
-----
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
3D 3-Dimensional
CFD Computational Fluid Dynamic
CMC Carboxymethyl Cellulose
SDS Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate
VOF Volume of Fluid
xiii
LIST OF NOMENCLATURE
abn Atmosphere
cm Centimeter
dynecm Dyne per centimeter
glcm3 Gram per cubic meter
JkgmiddotK Joule per kilogram kelvin
kglmmiddots Kilogram per meter second
kglm3 Kilogram per cubic meter
mm Millimeter
mls Meter per second
mls2 Meter per square second
Nm Newton per meter
WmmiddotK Watts per meter kelvin
J1 Micron
J1m Micrometer
xiv
CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION
11 Multiphase Flow
A phase may refer to states of matter which include solid liquid and vapor
(Crowe and Michaelides 2006) Then a multiphase flow can be defined as the
simultaneous flow of a mixture of different states or phases such as gas-liquid gasshy
solid liquid-solid or gas-liquid-solid Multiphase flow specifically two-phase flows
are found in wide range of industrial applications which comprise power generation
hydrocarbon recovery and processing food manufacturing as well as in most aspects
of chemical engineering such as distillation absorption evaporation condensation
and many others As for the extraction and transportation of crude oil from the
reservoir up to the surface it involves various phases that are gas oil water and
solids Even more complex cases have been facing the industry as the formations of
hydrates and wax frequently occur in the production line
As mentioned previously there are several combinations of multi phase flows
For each combination that flows in a given channel various form of interfacial
distributions that are also called as flow patterns are observed Out of the four types
of flow that have been listed gas-liquid flow is identified as the most complex flow
due to the combination of characteristics that involve deformable interface and the
compressibility of one of the phases (Ghajar 2005 Rahman Heidrick and Fleck
Chapter 1 Introduction
2009) Besides classification of multiphase flow is not as simple as single-phase
flow since there is several other factors need to be considered in a multi scale
structured flow such as pressure drop geometry of the channel heat flux surface
tension and several others In single-phase flow the indication of flow characteristic
is basically based on the information that includes the type of flow which is either
laminar or turbulent as well as the existence of flow separation or secondary flows
In this paper an overvIew of gas-liquid flow in a circular cross section
microchannel is given Liquid and gas are mixed in the mixing chamber and entered
the multi phase micro-capillary hence produced several significance flow patterns
The flow morphologies of mixtures made of water and air produced at the
micrometer scale flowing in a channel of circular cross section are then studied
111 Dispersed Phase and Separated Flows
According to Corradini (1998) there are two basic types of flow patterns that
have been identified which are dispersed and stratified Dispersed flow is a type of
flow in where one phase which is in the form of discrete element is dispersed or
distributed in the other continuous phase (Patel 2010) The discrete element may be
in the form of finite particles drops or bubbles There are few examples of flow that
can be used to explain dispersed phase As in the cases for gas-solid and liquid-solid
flows the discrete elements are always in the solid phase since solid particles are not
connected with each other Meanwhile the dispersed phase in gas-liquid flow is
primarily affected by the flow rates of both phases involved For instance bubbly
flow pattern is obtained as the flow rate of the gas is significantly lower than the
liquid flow rate In addition the shape or size of the dispersed phase is governed by
2
Chapter 1 Introduction
everal factors that include balance of buoyancy inertial and surface tension forces
(Corradini 1998)
Meanwhile stratified flow is a type of flow in where the two phases involved
are separated by a distinct line of contact (Patel 2010) In contrast with bubbly flow
greater flow rate of gas phase has resulted in vertical annular flow pattern in where
there is a liquid layer along the pipe wall alongside a gaseous inner core In other
words as for the cases of horizontal and vertical flows the two different streams are
separated from each other yet travel along in the same medium due to the density and
mass flowrate differences respectively (Corradini 1998)
112 Gas-Liquid Flow
Gas-liquid flow is characterized with the flow of two phases in which one of
the phases is in gaseous form while the other is in liquid form This combination of
flows in pipes has resulted in various configurations or flow patterns ranging from
bubbly flow to annular flow There are several industries that utilize the application
of gas-liquid flow which include bubble columns the generation of small droplets
for combustion in power generation system as well as the formation of droplet for
spray forming especially in materials processing
113 Gas-Solid Flow
Flow of gas phase together with suspended solid particles best described gasshy
solid flow This type of flow has been widely used to many industrial applications
which include pneumatic transport pollution control and so on For pneumatic
3
Chapter 1 Introduction
transport it is the main method of transporting solid materials According to (Crowe
2011) in vertical up-flow orientation the velocity of the gas has to be greater than
the settling velocity of the particles in order to maintain the transport
114 Liquid-Solid Flow
Liquid-solid flow involves the flow of solid particles that are carried via the
liquid phase This type of flow can be classified under dispersed phase flow due to
the dispersion of solid particles within the continuous liquid phase The discrete
elements are conveyed through the channel by the drag and pressure forces exerted
by the liquid phase (Weber 2010) The distribution of solid particles in the flow is
dependent on several factors which involve the properties of solid and carrier liquid
parameters of the channel flow direction and many others Liquid-solid fluidization
sedimentation and filtration are some typical examples of liquid-solid flow Those
mentioned applications are mostly used in the industry for the purpose of separation
115 Three-Phase Flows
Other than gas-liquid gas-solid and liquid-solid flows three-phase flow is
another example of multi phase flows that is encountered in engineering applications
An example for three-phase flow is the occurrence of bubbles in slurry which in
returns have produced three-phase flows flowing together There are not much
literature or related materials on this type of flow yet this flow is identified to be
interesting branch of study for multiphase flows
4
Pusat Khidmat MaldumatAkademil Chapter 1 Ul1lElSm tAJAVSIA SARAWA Introduction
12 Industrial Application Involving Multiphase Flow
As mentioned earlier multiphase fluid flows can be found in various
industrial processes or applications One of the most common examples is the
application of bubble column Bubble column device is where gas that is in the form
of bubbles come in contact with liquid with the main objective which is to mix the
liquid phase (Zehner and Kraume 2005) This device is commonly used as
multiphase contactors and reactors especially in chemical biochemical and
petrochemical industries since they offer several benefits during operation and
maintenance which include high heat and mass transfer rates compactness as well
as low operating and maintenance cost (Kantarci Borak and Ulgen 2004)
In bubble column the liquid may flow in either two ways which are coshy
current or counter-current to the gas flow direction An example of the simplest
bubble column is the one that consists of a vertical tube with no internals or in other
words the column is installed without any trays packings or shafts Besides for
simplest design of bubble column the gas is fed into the column at the bottom pass
through the liquid and later escaping from the upper surface If the released gas
contains high concentration of valuable reactants recycle design can be
implemented To date the simplest form of bubble column is rarely used since
numerous types of modifications are employed in order to achieve more efficient
design system
According to Kantarci et al (2004) there are three types of flow regimes that
are commonly found in bubbles columns that are bubbly flow churn-turbulent flow
and slug flow regime These flow regimes are determined according to the
superficial gas velocity applied in the column Based on the literature written by
5
Chapter 1 Introduction
previous authors bubbly flow regime is obtained at low superficial gas velocities
meanwhile churn-turbulent regime started to develop at higher superficial gas
velocities For slug flow regime it has been only conducted and observed in a smallshy
scale diameter laboratory columns at high gas flow rates (Hyndman and Larachi
1997)
13 Microchannel
Microchannel can be defined as channel with dimension that is less than 1
mm and greater than I micron (~) (Sharp et aI 2005) For other dimensions that are
above 1 mm the behaviors of the flow are observed to be the same as most
macroscopic flows Microchannel has gradually received attention due to the several
benefits offered which include high surface to volume ratio high throughput in
parallel processing reduction in the volume of sample required and many others
Greater surface to volume ratio has resulted in high rate of heat and mass transfer or
in other words enhance the heat transfer rates (Kandlikar 2012 Qian and Lawai
2006) In returns micro device has become an excellent and preferable tool for heat
exchanger
As the dimension scale is reduced to micrometric scale surface to volume
ratio has become significantly important Surface tension as well as viscous force has
dominated the system as compared to gravitational force (Ahmed-Orner and Wirth
2008) In other words the flow regimes observed for two-phase flows in
microchannel are different from the regimes mapped in larger channels (Ventakesan
et aI 2010) Surface tension is originated from the intermolecular forces in which
this forces are generally negligible at macrometric scale (Bayraktar and Pidugu
6
I declare that Projectffhesis is classified as (Please tick CJraquo
D CONFIDENTIAL (Contains confidential information under the Official Secret Act 1972) DRESTRICTED (Contains restricted information as specified by the organisation where research
was done)
rnOPEN ACCESS
Validation of ProjectThesis
I therefore duly affirmed with free consent and willingness declare that this said Projectffhesis shall be placed officially in the Centre for Academic Information Services with the abiding interest and rights as follows
bull This Projectffhesis is the sole legal property of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNlMAS)
bull The Centre for Academic Information Services has the lawful right to make copies for the purpose of academic and research only and not for other purpose
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bull The Centre for Academic Information Services has the lawful right to make copies of the Projectffhesis for academic exchange between Higher Learning Institute
bull No dispute or any claim shall arise from the student itself neither third party on this Projectffhesis once it becomes the sole property ofUNIMAS
bull This Projectffhesis or any material data and information related to it shall not be distributed published or disclosed to any party by the student except with UNIMAS permission
-t---I IStudent signature ___________ Supervisor signature _k_~_(tt_20 MAY 2013 20 MAY 2013
Current Address DT 0186 KG DURIAN TUNJUNG PO BOX 81882 87028 LABUAN FT
Notes If the ProjectlThesis is CONFIDENTIAL or RESTRICTED please attach together as annexure a letter from the organisation with the period and reasons ofconfidentiality and restriction
[The instrument is duly prepared by The Centre for Academic Information Services]
APPROVAL SHEET
This final year report which entitled Gas-Liquid Two-Phase Flow Pattern
Determination for Vertical Microchannel was prepared by Marlina Marzuki
(23965) is hereby read and approved by
ASSOC PROF DR KHAIRUDDIN SANAULLAH Date
(Project Supervisor)
Pusat Khidmat Makiumat Akademi UNIVERSm MALAVSIA SARAW~
GAS-LIQUID TWO-PHASE FLOW PATTERN
DETERMINATION FOR VERTICAL MICROCHANNEL
MARLINA MARZUKI
Thesis is submitted to
Faculty of Engineering Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
For the Degree of Bachelor of Engineering
With Honours (Chemical Engineering)
2013
-~~----------------=-=~~=====================z shy
Dedicated to my beloved family and friends
ii
- shy
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to thank my supervisor Assoc Prof Dr Khairuddin Sanaullah
of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak from Chemical Engineering department for his
invaluable supervision guidance and support towards the completion of this thesis I
would also like to extend my gratitude to Mr Afrasyab Khan for his contribution and
encouragement throughout the course of this project Last but not least my deepest
gratitude and appreciation goes to my beloved family and friends for their infinite
love support and motivations along completing my four year undergraduate study
ABSTRACT
Microchannel has gradually received attention due to its high surface to volume ratio
which indirectly resulted in high rate of heat and mass transfer To achieve more
efficient system it is likely that one should have the basic understanding on the flow
morphologies at the microscale Currently many industrial applications such as heat
exchanger bubble columns pneumatic transport pollution control and many others
facing the multi phase flow condition Multiphase flow can be defined as the
simultaneous flow of more than one phase such as gas-solid gas-liquid as well as
gas-liquid-solid flows Each of those multiphase flows produces different flow
regimes It is identified that studies on the flow regimes are important due to the
greater influence on the heat transfer rate as well as the hydrodynamics
characteristics of the flow Thus throughout this project numerical study with the
application of Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) software is perform to model
simulate and observe the flow regimes mapped for gas-liquid multiphase flow in a
vertically oriented microchannel
iv
ABSTRAK
Saluran mikro kini telah beransur-ansur mendapat perhatian kerana nisbah jumlah
luas permukaan kepada isi padunya yang besar secara tidak lansung menghasilkan
kadar pemindahan haba dan jisim yang tinggi Untuk mendapatkan sistem yang lebih
efisien adalah penting bagi seseorang untuk mempunyai kefahaman asas mengenai
morfologi aliran pad a skala mikro Pad a mas a ini terdapat pelbagai aplikasi industri
yang mengalami situasi aliran berbilang fasa seperti penukar haba kolom
gelembung pengangkutan pneumatik kawalan pencemaran dan lain-lain Aliran
berbilang fasa boleh ditakrifkan sebagai aliran serentak yang melibatkan lebih
daripada satu fasa seperti aliran gas-pepejal gas-cecair serta gas-cecair-pepejal
Setiap jenis aliran berbilang fasa menghasilkan rejim aliran yang berbeza Kajian
terhadap rejim aliran adalah penting kerana pengaruhnya yang besar terhadap kadar
permindahan haba serta ciri-ciri hidronamik aliran Oleh itu melalui projek ini
kaj ian berangka dengan menggunakan dinamika fluida pengkomputeran telah
dijalankan bagi memerhati aliran rejim yang dikenal pasti untuk gas-cecair aliran
berbilang fasa dalam sa luran mikro yang menegak
v
Pusat Khidmat Maklumat Akademi iJ [ VERSm MALAYSIA SA vA
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
TITLE PAGE
DEDICATION II
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Xlll
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT III
ABSTRACT IV
ABSTRAK V
TABLE OF CONTENTS VI
LIST OF TABLES IX
LIST OF FIGURES X
LIST OF SYMBOLS XII
LIST OF NOMENCLATURE XIV
Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION
11 Multiphase Flow
111 Dispersed Phase and Separated Flows 2
112 Gas-Liquid Flow 3
113 Gas-Solid Flow 3
114 Liquid-Solid Flow 4
11 5 Three-Phase Flows 4
12 Industrial Application Involving Multiphase Flow 5
13 Microchannel 6
14 Overview of Flow Pattern 7
15 Problem Statement 9
16 Objectives and Scopes of Study 9
17 Additional Information of Report 10
vi
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
LITERA TURE REVIEW
21 Materials and Fabrication Technique 11
211 Machining 12
22 Dimensionless Number and Forces Dominate in Microchannel 12
221 Surface Tension 14
23 Two-phase Gas-Liquid Flow 15
24 Mixing in Microchannel 19
25 Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) 22
251 Volume of Fluid (VOF) Model 23
252 Mixture Model 24
253 Eulerian Model 24
26 Flow Patterns in Vertical Upflow 25
METHODOLOGY
31 Introduction 28
32 Objective 29
33 Phase One 29
331 Literature Review 30
332 Design Criteria 30
333 Experimental Setup 31
34 Phase Two 32
341 Experimental Design 33
342 Identify the Domain 34
343 Create a Solid Model of the Domain 35
344 Design and Create the Mesh 36
345 Set Up the Solver 39
346 Compute the Solution 41
347 Examine the Result 42
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
41 Introduction 43
411 Simulation 3 44
412 Simulation 4 47
413 Simulation 5 49
414 Simulation 6 51
vii
415 Simulation 7
42 Discussion
Chapter 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
51 Conclusions
52 Recommendations
REFERENCES
APPENDIX
viii
53
55
57
58
59
68
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
I
20 Density and Surface Tension of Water Against Air at Various 14
Temperatures (Weast and Astle 1982)
30 Dimensions of Capillaries 35
31 Determination of Cell Quality 37
32 Details of Mesh 37
33 Material Properties 40
34 Problem Setup 40
40 Result for the Simulation 43
ix
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
21 Flow Regimes Map (Saisorn and Wongwises 2011) 16
Two-phase Flow Regimes Map for a 100 Jlm Microchannel 22 18
(Kawahara et aI 2002)
23 T - junctions
T - junction with gas and liquid inlet perpendicular to the 23a 20
main channel
T- junction with either gas or liquid inlet is in the direction 23b 20
of the main channel
24 y- junction 21
25 Cross- junction 21
26 Flow- focusing 21
27 Flow Patterns in Vertical Upflow (Azzopardi nd) 26
Steps Involved in Developing the Methodologies for the Design 31 28
Project
32 Subjects Reviewed in Literature Review 30
33 Steps Involved in Determining the Design Criteria 31
34 Steps Involved in Preparation of Complete Experimental Facility 32
35 Adjusted Design of the Microchannel 34
36 Final Design for the Microchannel 34
37 Overall Test Section 35
38 3D Domain(Bakker 2002) 36
39 Meshing for Air Capillary 38
310 Meshing for Water Capillary 38
311 Meshing for Multiphase Capillary 39
312 Steps Involved in Solver Setting 39
41 Contours of Volume Fraction (Air) for Simulation 3 44
42 Overall Figure for Simulation 3 45
x
43 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 3 46
44 Overall Figure for Simulation 4 47
45 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 4 48
46 Overall Figure for Simulation 5 49
47 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 5 50
48 Overall Figure for Simulation 6 51
49 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 6 52
410 Overall Figure for Simulation 7 53
411 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 7 54
412 Annular Flow (taken from Saisom and Wongwises 2011) 55
413 Annular Flow (Simulation 7) 55
xi
J
0
LIST OF SYMBOLS
D Diameter
jo Superficial velocity for gas
JL Superficial velocity for liquid
p Secondary phase
q Primary phase
Qo Volumetric flowrate for gas
QL Volumetric flowrate for liquid
Re Reynolds
St Stokes
va vp Velocity of gas
VL Vq Velocity of liquid
vqp Slip velocity
Degree
degc Degree Celsius
y Surface tension
(4) Velocity ratio
a Void fraction
xii
-----
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
3D 3-Dimensional
CFD Computational Fluid Dynamic
CMC Carboxymethyl Cellulose
SDS Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate
VOF Volume of Fluid
xiii
LIST OF NOMENCLATURE
abn Atmosphere
cm Centimeter
dynecm Dyne per centimeter
glcm3 Gram per cubic meter
JkgmiddotK Joule per kilogram kelvin
kglmmiddots Kilogram per meter second
kglm3 Kilogram per cubic meter
mm Millimeter
mls Meter per second
mls2 Meter per square second
Nm Newton per meter
WmmiddotK Watts per meter kelvin
J1 Micron
J1m Micrometer
xiv
CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION
11 Multiphase Flow
A phase may refer to states of matter which include solid liquid and vapor
(Crowe and Michaelides 2006) Then a multiphase flow can be defined as the
simultaneous flow of a mixture of different states or phases such as gas-liquid gasshy
solid liquid-solid or gas-liquid-solid Multiphase flow specifically two-phase flows
are found in wide range of industrial applications which comprise power generation
hydrocarbon recovery and processing food manufacturing as well as in most aspects
of chemical engineering such as distillation absorption evaporation condensation
and many others As for the extraction and transportation of crude oil from the
reservoir up to the surface it involves various phases that are gas oil water and
solids Even more complex cases have been facing the industry as the formations of
hydrates and wax frequently occur in the production line
As mentioned previously there are several combinations of multi phase flows
For each combination that flows in a given channel various form of interfacial
distributions that are also called as flow patterns are observed Out of the four types
of flow that have been listed gas-liquid flow is identified as the most complex flow
due to the combination of characteristics that involve deformable interface and the
compressibility of one of the phases (Ghajar 2005 Rahman Heidrick and Fleck
Chapter 1 Introduction
2009) Besides classification of multiphase flow is not as simple as single-phase
flow since there is several other factors need to be considered in a multi scale
structured flow such as pressure drop geometry of the channel heat flux surface
tension and several others In single-phase flow the indication of flow characteristic
is basically based on the information that includes the type of flow which is either
laminar or turbulent as well as the existence of flow separation or secondary flows
In this paper an overvIew of gas-liquid flow in a circular cross section
microchannel is given Liquid and gas are mixed in the mixing chamber and entered
the multi phase micro-capillary hence produced several significance flow patterns
The flow morphologies of mixtures made of water and air produced at the
micrometer scale flowing in a channel of circular cross section are then studied
111 Dispersed Phase and Separated Flows
According to Corradini (1998) there are two basic types of flow patterns that
have been identified which are dispersed and stratified Dispersed flow is a type of
flow in where one phase which is in the form of discrete element is dispersed or
distributed in the other continuous phase (Patel 2010) The discrete element may be
in the form of finite particles drops or bubbles There are few examples of flow that
can be used to explain dispersed phase As in the cases for gas-solid and liquid-solid
flows the discrete elements are always in the solid phase since solid particles are not
connected with each other Meanwhile the dispersed phase in gas-liquid flow is
primarily affected by the flow rates of both phases involved For instance bubbly
flow pattern is obtained as the flow rate of the gas is significantly lower than the
liquid flow rate In addition the shape or size of the dispersed phase is governed by
2
Chapter 1 Introduction
everal factors that include balance of buoyancy inertial and surface tension forces
(Corradini 1998)
Meanwhile stratified flow is a type of flow in where the two phases involved
are separated by a distinct line of contact (Patel 2010) In contrast with bubbly flow
greater flow rate of gas phase has resulted in vertical annular flow pattern in where
there is a liquid layer along the pipe wall alongside a gaseous inner core In other
words as for the cases of horizontal and vertical flows the two different streams are
separated from each other yet travel along in the same medium due to the density and
mass flowrate differences respectively (Corradini 1998)
112 Gas-Liquid Flow
Gas-liquid flow is characterized with the flow of two phases in which one of
the phases is in gaseous form while the other is in liquid form This combination of
flows in pipes has resulted in various configurations or flow patterns ranging from
bubbly flow to annular flow There are several industries that utilize the application
of gas-liquid flow which include bubble columns the generation of small droplets
for combustion in power generation system as well as the formation of droplet for
spray forming especially in materials processing
113 Gas-Solid Flow
Flow of gas phase together with suspended solid particles best described gasshy
solid flow This type of flow has been widely used to many industrial applications
which include pneumatic transport pollution control and so on For pneumatic
3
Chapter 1 Introduction
transport it is the main method of transporting solid materials According to (Crowe
2011) in vertical up-flow orientation the velocity of the gas has to be greater than
the settling velocity of the particles in order to maintain the transport
114 Liquid-Solid Flow
Liquid-solid flow involves the flow of solid particles that are carried via the
liquid phase This type of flow can be classified under dispersed phase flow due to
the dispersion of solid particles within the continuous liquid phase The discrete
elements are conveyed through the channel by the drag and pressure forces exerted
by the liquid phase (Weber 2010) The distribution of solid particles in the flow is
dependent on several factors which involve the properties of solid and carrier liquid
parameters of the channel flow direction and many others Liquid-solid fluidization
sedimentation and filtration are some typical examples of liquid-solid flow Those
mentioned applications are mostly used in the industry for the purpose of separation
115 Three-Phase Flows
Other than gas-liquid gas-solid and liquid-solid flows three-phase flow is
another example of multi phase flows that is encountered in engineering applications
An example for three-phase flow is the occurrence of bubbles in slurry which in
returns have produced three-phase flows flowing together There are not much
literature or related materials on this type of flow yet this flow is identified to be
interesting branch of study for multiphase flows
4
Pusat Khidmat MaldumatAkademil Chapter 1 Ul1lElSm tAJAVSIA SARAWA Introduction
12 Industrial Application Involving Multiphase Flow
As mentioned earlier multiphase fluid flows can be found in various
industrial processes or applications One of the most common examples is the
application of bubble column Bubble column device is where gas that is in the form
of bubbles come in contact with liquid with the main objective which is to mix the
liquid phase (Zehner and Kraume 2005) This device is commonly used as
multiphase contactors and reactors especially in chemical biochemical and
petrochemical industries since they offer several benefits during operation and
maintenance which include high heat and mass transfer rates compactness as well
as low operating and maintenance cost (Kantarci Borak and Ulgen 2004)
In bubble column the liquid may flow in either two ways which are coshy
current or counter-current to the gas flow direction An example of the simplest
bubble column is the one that consists of a vertical tube with no internals or in other
words the column is installed without any trays packings or shafts Besides for
simplest design of bubble column the gas is fed into the column at the bottom pass
through the liquid and later escaping from the upper surface If the released gas
contains high concentration of valuable reactants recycle design can be
implemented To date the simplest form of bubble column is rarely used since
numerous types of modifications are employed in order to achieve more efficient
design system
According to Kantarci et al (2004) there are three types of flow regimes that
are commonly found in bubbles columns that are bubbly flow churn-turbulent flow
and slug flow regime These flow regimes are determined according to the
superficial gas velocity applied in the column Based on the literature written by
5
Chapter 1 Introduction
previous authors bubbly flow regime is obtained at low superficial gas velocities
meanwhile churn-turbulent regime started to develop at higher superficial gas
velocities For slug flow regime it has been only conducted and observed in a smallshy
scale diameter laboratory columns at high gas flow rates (Hyndman and Larachi
1997)
13 Microchannel
Microchannel can be defined as channel with dimension that is less than 1
mm and greater than I micron (~) (Sharp et aI 2005) For other dimensions that are
above 1 mm the behaviors of the flow are observed to be the same as most
macroscopic flows Microchannel has gradually received attention due to the several
benefits offered which include high surface to volume ratio high throughput in
parallel processing reduction in the volume of sample required and many others
Greater surface to volume ratio has resulted in high rate of heat and mass transfer or
in other words enhance the heat transfer rates (Kandlikar 2012 Qian and Lawai
2006) In returns micro device has become an excellent and preferable tool for heat
exchanger
As the dimension scale is reduced to micrometric scale surface to volume
ratio has become significantly important Surface tension as well as viscous force has
dominated the system as compared to gravitational force (Ahmed-Orner and Wirth
2008) In other words the flow regimes observed for two-phase flows in
microchannel are different from the regimes mapped in larger channels (Ventakesan
et aI 2010) Surface tension is originated from the intermolecular forces in which
this forces are generally negligible at macrometric scale (Bayraktar and Pidugu
6
APPROVAL SHEET
This final year report which entitled Gas-Liquid Two-Phase Flow Pattern
Determination for Vertical Microchannel was prepared by Marlina Marzuki
(23965) is hereby read and approved by
ASSOC PROF DR KHAIRUDDIN SANAULLAH Date
(Project Supervisor)
Pusat Khidmat Makiumat Akademi UNIVERSm MALAVSIA SARAW~
GAS-LIQUID TWO-PHASE FLOW PATTERN
DETERMINATION FOR VERTICAL MICROCHANNEL
MARLINA MARZUKI
Thesis is submitted to
Faculty of Engineering Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
For the Degree of Bachelor of Engineering
With Honours (Chemical Engineering)
2013
-~~----------------=-=~~=====================z shy
Dedicated to my beloved family and friends
ii
- shy
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to thank my supervisor Assoc Prof Dr Khairuddin Sanaullah
of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak from Chemical Engineering department for his
invaluable supervision guidance and support towards the completion of this thesis I
would also like to extend my gratitude to Mr Afrasyab Khan for his contribution and
encouragement throughout the course of this project Last but not least my deepest
gratitude and appreciation goes to my beloved family and friends for their infinite
love support and motivations along completing my four year undergraduate study
ABSTRACT
Microchannel has gradually received attention due to its high surface to volume ratio
which indirectly resulted in high rate of heat and mass transfer To achieve more
efficient system it is likely that one should have the basic understanding on the flow
morphologies at the microscale Currently many industrial applications such as heat
exchanger bubble columns pneumatic transport pollution control and many others
facing the multi phase flow condition Multiphase flow can be defined as the
simultaneous flow of more than one phase such as gas-solid gas-liquid as well as
gas-liquid-solid flows Each of those multiphase flows produces different flow
regimes It is identified that studies on the flow regimes are important due to the
greater influence on the heat transfer rate as well as the hydrodynamics
characteristics of the flow Thus throughout this project numerical study with the
application of Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) software is perform to model
simulate and observe the flow regimes mapped for gas-liquid multiphase flow in a
vertically oriented microchannel
iv
ABSTRAK
Saluran mikro kini telah beransur-ansur mendapat perhatian kerana nisbah jumlah
luas permukaan kepada isi padunya yang besar secara tidak lansung menghasilkan
kadar pemindahan haba dan jisim yang tinggi Untuk mendapatkan sistem yang lebih
efisien adalah penting bagi seseorang untuk mempunyai kefahaman asas mengenai
morfologi aliran pad a skala mikro Pad a mas a ini terdapat pelbagai aplikasi industri
yang mengalami situasi aliran berbilang fasa seperti penukar haba kolom
gelembung pengangkutan pneumatik kawalan pencemaran dan lain-lain Aliran
berbilang fasa boleh ditakrifkan sebagai aliran serentak yang melibatkan lebih
daripada satu fasa seperti aliran gas-pepejal gas-cecair serta gas-cecair-pepejal
Setiap jenis aliran berbilang fasa menghasilkan rejim aliran yang berbeza Kajian
terhadap rejim aliran adalah penting kerana pengaruhnya yang besar terhadap kadar
permindahan haba serta ciri-ciri hidronamik aliran Oleh itu melalui projek ini
kaj ian berangka dengan menggunakan dinamika fluida pengkomputeran telah
dijalankan bagi memerhati aliran rejim yang dikenal pasti untuk gas-cecair aliran
berbilang fasa dalam sa luran mikro yang menegak
v
Pusat Khidmat Maklumat Akademi iJ [ VERSm MALAYSIA SA vA
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
TITLE PAGE
DEDICATION II
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Xlll
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT III
ABSTRACT IV
ABSTRAK V
TABLE OF CONTENTS VI
LIST OF TABLES IX
LIST OF FIGURES X
LIST OF SYMBOLS XII
LIST OF NOMENCLATURE XIV
Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION
11 Multiphase Flow
111 Dispersed Phase and Separated Flows 2
112 Gas-Liquid Flow 3
113 Gas-Solid Flow 3
114 Liquid-Solid Flow 4
11 5 Three-Phase Flows 4
12 Industrial Application Involving Multiphase Flow 5
13 Microchannel 6
14 Overview of Flow Pattern 7
15 Problem Statement 9
16 Objectives and Scopes of Study 9
17 Additional Information of Report 10
vi
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
LITERA TURE REVIEW
21 Materials and Fabrication Technique 11
211 Machining 12
22 Dimensionless Number and Forces Dominate in Microchannel 12
221 Surface Tension 14
23 Two-phase Gas-Liquid Flow 15
24 Mixing in Microchannel 19
25 Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) 22
251 Volume of Fluid (VOF) Model 23
252 Mixture Model 24
253 Eulerian Model 24
26 Flow Patterns in Vertical Upflow 25
METHODOLOGY
31 Introduction 28
32 Objective 29
33 Phase One 29
331 Literature Review 30
332 Design Criteria 30
333 Experimental Setup 31
34 Phase Two 32
341 Experimental Design 33
342 Identify the Domain 34
343 Create a Solid Model of the Domain 35
344 Design and Create the Mesh 36
345 Set Up the Solver 39
346 Compute the Solution 41
347 Examine the Result 42
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
41 Introduction 43
411 Simulation 3 44
412 Simulation 4 47
413 Simulation 5 49
414 Simulation 6 51
vii
415 Simulation 7
42 Discussion
Chapter 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
51 Conclusions
52 Recommendations
REFERENCES
APPENDIX
viii
53
55
57
58
59
68
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
I
20 Density and Surface Tension of Water Against Air at Various 14
Temperatures (Weast and Astle 1982)
30 Dimensions of Capillaries 35
31 Determination of Cell Quality 37
32 Details of Mesh 37
33 Material Properties 40
34 Problem Setup 40
40 Result for the Simulation 43
ix
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
21 Flow Regimes Map (Saisorn and Wongwises 2011) 16
Two-phase Flow Regimes Map for a 100 Jlm Microchannel 22 18
(Kawahara et aI 2002)
23 T - junctions
T - junction with gas and liquid inlet perpendicular to the 23a 20
main channel
T- junction with either gas or liquid inlet is in the direction 23b 20
of the main channel
24 y- junction 21
25 Cross- junction 21
26 Flow- focusing 21
27 Flow Patterns in Vertical Upflow (Azzopardi nd) 26
Steps Involved in Developing the Methodologies for the Design 31 28
Project
32 Subjects Reviewed in Literature Review 30
33 Steps Involved in Determining the Design Criteria 31
34 Steps Involved in Preparation of Complete Experimental Facility 32
35 Adjusted Design of the Microchannel 34
36 Final Design for the Microchannel 34
37 Overall Test Section 35
38 3D Domain(Bakker 2002) 36
39 Meshing for Air Capillary 38
310 Meshing for Water Capillary 38
311 Meshing for Multiphase Capillary 39
312 Steps Involved in Solver Setting 39
41 Contours of Volume Fraction (Air) for Simulation 3 44
42 Overall Figure for Simulation 3 45
x
43 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 3 46
44 Overall Figure for Simulation 4 47
45 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 4 48
46 Overall Figure for Simulation 5 49
47 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 5 50
48 Overall Figure for Simulation 6 51
49 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 6 52
410 Overall Figure for Simulation 7 53
411 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 7 54
412 Annular Flow (taken from Saisom and Wongwises 2011) 55
413 Annular Flow (Simulation 7) 55
xi
J
0
LIST OF SYMBOLS
D Diameter
jo Superficial velocity for gas
JL Superficial velocity for liquid
p Secondary phase
q Primary phase
Qo Volumetric flowrate for gas
QL Volumetric flowrate for liquid
Re Reynolds
St Stokes
va vp Velocity of gas
VL Vq Velocity of liquid
vqp Slip velocity
Degree
degc Degree Celsius
y Surface tension
(4) Velocity ratio
a Void fraction
xii
-----
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
3D 3-Dimensional
CFD Computational Fluid Dynamic
CMC Carboxymethyl Cellulose
SDS Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate
VOF Volume of Fluid
xiii
LIST OF NOMENCLATURE
abn Atmosphere
cm Centimeter
dynecm Dyne per centimeter
glcm3 Gram per cubic meter
JkgmiddotK Joule per kilogram kelvin
kglmmiddots Kilogram per meter second
kglm3 Kilogram per cubic meter
mm Millimeter
mls Meter per second
mls2 Meter per square second
Nm Newton per meter
WmmiddotK Watts per meter kelvin
J1 Micron
J1m Micrometer
xiv
CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION
11 Multiphase Flow
A phase may refer to states of matter which include solid liquid and vapor
(Crowe and Michaelides 2006) Then a multiphase flow can be defined as the
simultaneous flow of a mixture of different states or phases such as gas-liquid gasshy
solid liquid-solid or gas-liquid-solid Multiphase flow specifically two-phase flows
are found in wide range of industrial applications which comprise power generation
hydrocarbon recovery and processing food manufacturing as well as in most aspects
of chemical engineering such as distillation absorption evaporation condensation
and many others As for the extraction and transportation of crude oil from the
reservoir up to the surface it involves various phases that are gas oil water and
solids Even more complex cases have been facing the industry as the formations of
hydrates and wax frequently occur in the production line
As mentioned previously there are several combinations of multi phase flows
For each combination that flows in a given channel various form of interfacial
distributions that are also called as flow patterns are observed Out of the four types
of flow that have been listed gas-liquid flow is identified as the most complex flow
due to the combination of characteristics that involve deformable interface and the
compressibility of one of the phases (Ghajar 2005 Rahman Heidrick and Fleck
Chapter 1 Introduction
2009) Besides classification of multiphase flow is not as simple as single-phase
flow since there is several other factors need to be considered in a multi scale
structured flow such as pressure drop geometry of the channel heat flux surface
tension and several others In single-phase flow the indication of flow characteristic
is basically based on the information that includes the type of flow which is either
laminar or turbulent as well as the existence of flow separation or secondary flows
In this paper an overvIew of gas-liquid flow in a circular cross section
microchannel is given Liquid and gas are mixed in the mixing chamber and entered
the multi phase micro-capillary hence produced several significance flow patterns
The flow morphologies of mixtures made of water and air produced at the
micrometer scale flowing in a channel of circular cross section are then studied
111 Dispersed Phase and Separated Flows
According to Corradini (1998) there are two basic types of flow patterns that
have been identified which are dispersed and stratified Dispersed flow is a type of
flow in where one phase which is in the form of discrete element is dispersed or
distributed in the other continuous phase (Patel 2010) The discrete element may be
in the form of finite particles drops or bubbles There are few examples of flow that
can be used to explain dispersed phase As in the cases for gas-solid and liquid-solid
flows the discrete elements are always in the solid phase since solid particles are not
connected with each other Meanwhile the dispersed phase in gas-liquid flow is
primarily affected by the flow rates of both phases involved For instance bubbly
flow pattern is obtained as the flow rate of the gas is significantly lower than the
liquid flow rate In addition the shape or size of the dispersed phase is governed by
2
Chapter 1 Introduction
everal factors that include balance of buoyancy inertial and surface tension forces
(Corradini 1998)
Meanwhile stratified flow is a type of flow in where the two phases involved
are separated by a distinct line of contact (Patel 2010) In contrast with bubbly flow
greater flow rate of gas phase has resulted in vertical annular flow pattern in where
there is a liquid layer along the pipe wall alongside a gaseous inner core In other
words as for the cases of horizontal and vertical flows the two different streams are
separated from each other yet travel along in the same medium due to the density and
mass flowrate differences respectively (Corradini 1998)
112 Gas-Liquid Flow
Gas-liquid flow is characterized with the flow of two phases in which one of
the phases is in gaseous form while the other is in liquid form This combination of
flows in pipes has resulted in various configurations or flow patterns ranging from
bubbly flow to annular flow There are several industries that utilize the application
of gas-liquid flow which include bubble columns the generation of small droplets
for combustion in power generation system as well as the formation of droplet for
spray forming especially in materials processing
113 Gas-Solid Flow
Flow of gas phase together with suspended solid particles best described gasshy
solid flow This type of flow has been widely used to many industrial applications
which include pneumatic transport pollution control and so on For pneumatic
3
Chapter 1 Introduction
transport it is the main method of transporting solid materials According to (Crowe
2011) in vertical up-flow orientation the velocity of the gas has to be greater than
the settling velocity of the particles in order to maintain the transport
114 Liquid-Solid Flow
Liquid-solid flow involves the flow of solid particles that are carried via the
liquid phase This type of flow can be classified under dispersed phase flow due to
the dispersion of solid particles within the continuous liquid phase The discrete
elements are conveyed through the channel by the drag and pressure forces exerted
by the liquid phase (Weber 2010) The distribution of solid particles in the flow is
dependent on several factors which involve the properties of solid and carrier liquid
parameters of the channel flow direction and many others Liquid-solid fluidization
sedimentation and filtration are some typical examples of liquid-solid flow Those
mentioned applications are mostly used in the industry for the purpose of separation
115 Three-Phase Flows
Other than gas-liquid gas-solid and liquid-solid flows three-phase flow is
another example of multi phase flows that is encountered in engineering applications
An example for three-phase flow is the occurrence of bubbles in slurry which in
returns have produced three-phase flows flowing together There are not much
literature or related materials on this type of flow yet this flow is identified to be
interesting branch of study for multiphase flows
4
Pusat Khidmat MaldumatAkademil Chapter 1 Ul1lElSm tAJAVSIA SARAWA Introduction
12 Industrial Application Involving Multiphase Flow
As mentioned earlier multiphase fluid flows can be found in various
industrial processes or applications One of the most common examples is the
application of bubble column Bubble column device is where gas that is in the form
of bubbles come in contact with liquid with the main objective which is to mix the
liquid phase (Zehner and Kraume 2005) This device is commonly used as
multiphase contactors and reactors especially in chemical biochemical and
petrochemical industries since they offer several benefits during operation and
maintenance which include high heat and mass transfer rates compactness as well
as low operating and maintenance cost (Kantarci Borak and Ulgen 2004)
In bubble column the liquid may flow in either two ways which are coshy
current or counter-current to the gas flow direction An example of the simplest
bubble column is the one that consists of a vertical tube with no internals or in other
words the column is installed without any trays packings or shafts Besides for
simplest design of bubble column the gas is fed into the column at the bottom pass
through the liquid and later escaping from the upper surface If the released gas
contains high concentration of valuable reactants recycle design can be
implemented To date the simplest form of bubble column is rarely used since
numerous types of modifications are employed in order to achieve more efficient
design system
According to Kantarci et al (2004) there are three types of flow regimes that
are commonly found in bubbles columns that are bubbly flow churn-turbulent flow
and slug flow regime These flow regimes are determined according to the
superficial gas velocity applied in the column Based on the literature written by
5
Chapter 1 Introduction
previous authors bubbly flow regime is obtained at low superficial gas velocities
meanwhile churn-turbulent regime started to develop at higher superficial gas
velocities For slug flow regime it has been only conducted and observed in a smallshy
scale diameter laboratory columns at high gas flow rates (Hyndman and Larachi
1997)
13 Microchannel
Microchannel can be defined as channel with dimension that is less than 1
mm and greater than I micron (~) (Sharp et aI 2005) For other dimensions that are
above 1 mm the behaviors of the flow are observed to be the same as most
macroscopic flows Microchannel has gradually received attention due to the several
benefits offered which include high surface to volume ratio high throughput in
parallel processing reduction in the volume of sample required and many others
Greater surface to volume ratio has resulted in high rate of heat and mass transfer or
in other words enhance the heat transfer rates (Kandlikar 2012 Qian and Lawai
2006) In returns micro device has become an excellent and preferable tool for heat
exchanger
As the dimension scale is reduced to micrometric scale surface to volume
ratio has become significantly important Surface tension as well as viscous force has
dominated the system as compared to gravitational force (Ahmed-Orner and Wirth
2008) In other words the flow regimes observed for two-phase flows in
microchannel are different from the regimes mapped in larger channels (Ventakesan
et aI 2010) Surface tension is originated from the intermolecular forces in which
this forces are generally negligible at macrometric scale (Bayraktar and Pidugu
6
Pusat Khidmat Makiumat Akademi UNIVERSm MALAVSIA SARAW~
GAS-LIQUID TWO-PHASE FLOW PATTERN
DETERMINATION FOR VERTICAL MICROCHANNEL
MARLINA MARZUKI
Thesis is submitted to
Faculty of Engineering Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
For the Degree of Bachelor of Engineering
With Honours (Chemical Engineering)
2013
-~~----------------=-=~~=====================z shy
Dedicated to my beloved family and friends
ii
- shy
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to thank my supervisor Assoc Prof Dr Khairuddin Sanaullah
of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak from Chemical Engineering department for his
invaluable supervision guidance and support towards the completion of this thesis I
would also like to extend my gratitude to Mr Afrasyab Khan for his contribution and
encouragement throughout the course of this project Last but not least my deepest
gratitude and appreciation goes to my beloved family and friends for their infinite
love support and motivations along completing my four year undergraduate study
ABSTRACT
Microchannel has gradually received attention due to its high surface to volume ratio
which indirectly resulted in high rate of heat and mass transfer To achieve more
efficient system it is likely that one should have the basic understanding on the flow
morphologies at the microscale Currently many industrial applications such as heat
exchanger bubble columns pneumatic transport pollution control and many others
facing the multi phase flow condition Multiphase flow can be defined as the
simultaneous flow of more than one phase such as gas-solid gas-liquid as well as
gas-liquid-solid flows Each of those multiphase flows produces different flow
regimes It is identified that studies on the flow regimes are important due to the
greater influence on the heat transfer rate as well as the hydrodynamics
characteristics of the flow Thus throughout this project numerical study with the
application of Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) software is perform to model
simulate and observe the flow regimes mapped for gas-liquid multiphase flow in a
vertically oriented microchannel
iv
ABSTRAK
Saluran mikro kini telah beransur-ansur mendapat perhatian kerana nisbah jumlah
luas permukaan kepada isi padunya yang besar secara tidak lansung menghasilkan
kadar pemindahan haba dan jisim yang tinggi Untuk mendapatkan sistem yang lebih
efisien adalah penting bagi seseorang untuk mempunyai kefahaman asas mengenai
morfologi aliran pad a skala mikro Pad a mas a ini terdapat pelbagai aplikasi industri
yang mengalami situasi aliran berbilang fasa seperti penukar haba kolom
gelembung pengangkutan pneumatik kawalan pencemaran dan lain-lain Aliran
berbilang fasa boleh ditakrifkan sebagai aliran serentak yang melibatkan lebih
daripada satu fasa seperti aliran gas-pepejal gas-cecair serta gas-cecair-pepejal
Setiap jenis aliran berbilang fasa menghasilkan rejim aliran yang berbeza Kajian
terhadap rejim aliran adalah penting kerana pengaruhnya yang besar terhadap kadar
permindahan haba serta ciri-ciri hidronamik aliran Oleh itu melalui projek ini
kaj ian berangka dengan menggunakan dinamika fluida pengkomputeran telah
dijalankan bagi memerhati aliran rejim yang dikenal pasti untuk gas-cecair aliran
berbilang fasa dalam sa luran mikro yang menegak
v
Pusat Khidmat Maklumat Akademi iJ [ VERSm MALAYSIA SA vA
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
TITLE PAGE
DEDICATION II
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Xlll
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT III
ABSTRACT IV
ABSTRAK V
TABLE OF CONTENTS VI
LIST OF TABLES IX
LIST OF FIGURES X
LIST OF SYMBOLS XII
LIST OF NOMENCLATURE XIV
Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION
11 Multiphase Flow
111 Dispersed Phase and Separated Flows 2
112 Gas-Liquid Flow 3
113 Gas-Solid Flow 3
114 Liquid-Solid Flow 4
11 5 Three-Phase Flows 4
12 Industrial Application Involving Multiphase Flow 5
13 Microchannel 6
14 Overview of Flow Pattern 7
15 Problem Statement 9
16 Objectives and Scopes of Study 9
17 Additional Information of Report 10
vi
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
LITERA TURE REVIEW
21 Materials and Fabrication Technique 11
211 Machining 12
22 Dimensionless Number and Forces Dominate in Microchannel 12
221 Surface Tension 14
23 Two-phase Gas-Liquid Flow 15
24 Mixing in Microchannel 19
25 Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) 22
251 Volume of Fluid (VOF) Model 23
252 Mixture Model 24
253 Eulerian Model 24
26 Flow Patterns in Vertical Upflow 25
METHODOLOGY
31 Introduction 28
32 Objective 29
33 Phase One 29
331 Literature Review 30
332 Design Criteria 30
333 Experimental Setup 31
34 Phase Two 32
341 Experimental Design 33
342 Identify the Domain 34
343 Create a Solid Model of the Domain 35
344 Design and Create the Mesh 36
345 Set Up the Solver 39
346 Compute the Solution 41
347 Examine the Result 42
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
41 Introduction 43
411 Simulation 3 44
412 Simulation 4 47
413 Simulation 5 49
414 Simulation 6 51
vii
415 Simulation 7
42 Discussion
Chapter 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
51 Conclusions
52 Recommendations
REFERENCES
APPENDIX
viii
53
55
57
58
59
68
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
I
20 Density and Surface Tension of Water Against Air at Various 14
Temperatures (Weast and Astle 1982)
30 Dimensions of Capillaries 35
31 Determination of Cell Quality 37
32 Details of Mesh 37
33 Material Properties 40
34 Problem Setup 40
40 Result for the Simulation 43
ix
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
21 Flow Regimes Map (Saisorn and Wongwises 2011) 16
Two-phase Flow Regimes Map for a 100 Jlm Microchannel 22 18
(Kawahara et aI 2002)
23 T - junctions
T - junction with gas and liquid inlet perpendicular to the 23a 20
main channel
T- junction with either gas or liquid inlet is in the direction 23b 20
of the main channel
24 y- junction 21
25 Cross- junction 21
26 Flow- focusing 21
27 Flow Patterns in Vertical Upflow (Azzopardi nd) 26
Steps Involved in Developing the Methodologies for the Design 31 28
Project
32 Subjects Reviewed in Literature Review 30
33 Steps Involved in Determining the Design Criteria 31
34 Steps Involved in Preparation of Complete Experimental Facility 32
35 Adjusted Design of the Microchannel 34
36 Final Design for the Microchannel 34
37 Overall Test Section 35
38 3D Domain(Bakker 2002) 36
39 Meshing for Air Capillary 38
310 Meshing for Water Capillary 38
311 Meshing for Multiphase Capillary 39
312 Steps Involved in Solver Setting 39
41 Contours of Volume Fraction (Air) for Simulation 3 44
42 Overall Figure for Simulation 3 45
x
43 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 3 46
44 Overall Figure for Simulation 4 47
45 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 4 48
46 Overall Figure for Simulation 5 49
47 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 5 50
48 Overall Figure for Simulation 6 51
49 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 6 52
410 Overall Figure for Simulation 7 53
411 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 7 54
412 Annular Flow (taken from Saisom and Wongwises 2011) 55
413 Annular Flow (Simulation 7) 55
xi
J
0
LIST OF SYMBOLS
D Diameter
jo Superficial velocity for gas
JL Superficial velocity for liquid
p Secondary phase
q Primary phase
Qo Volumetric flowrate for gas
QL Volumetric flowrate for liquid
Re Reynolds
St Stokes
va vp Velocity of gas
VL Vq Velocity of liquid
vqp Slip velocity
Degree
degc Degree Celsius
y Surface tension
(4) Velocity ratio
a Void fraction
xii
-----
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
3D 3-Dimensional
CFD Computational Fluid Dynamic
CMC Carboxymethyl Cellulose
SDS Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate
VOF Volume of Fluid
xiii
LIST OF NOMENCLATURE
abn Atmosphere
cm Centimeter
dynecm Dyne per centimeter
glcm3 Gram per cubic meter
JkgmiddotK Joule per kilogram kelvin
kglmmiddots Kilogram per meter second
kglm3 Kilogram per cubic meter
mm Millimeter
mls Meter per second
mls2 Meter per square second
Nm Newton per meter
WmmiddotK Watts per meter kelvin
J1 Micron
J1m Micrometer
xiv
CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION
11 Multiphase Flow
A phase may refer to states of matter which include solid liquid and vapor
(Crowe and Michaelides 2006) Then a multiphase flow can be defined as the
simultaneous flow of a mixture of different states or phases such as gas-liquid gasshy
solid liquid-solid or gas-liquid-solid Multiphase flow specifically two-phase flows
are found in wide range of industrial applications which comprise power generation
hydrocarbon recovery and processing food manufacturing as well as in most aspects
of chemical engineering such as distillation absorption evaporation condensation
and many others As for the extraction and transportation of crude oil from the
reservoir up to the surface it involves various phases that are gas oil water and
solids Even more complex cases have been facing the industry as the formations of
hydrates and wax frequently occur in the production line
As mentioned previously there are several combinations of multi phase flows
For each combination that flows in a given channel various form of interfacial
distributions that are also called as flow patterns are observed Out of the four types
of flow that have been listed gas-liquid flow is identified as the most complex flow
due to the combination of characteristics that involve deformable interface and the
compressibility of one of the phases (Ghajar 2005 Rahman Heidrick and Fleck
Chapter 1 Introduction
2009) Besides classification of multiphase flow is not as simple as single-phase
flow since there is several other factors need to be considered in a multi scale
structured flow such as pressure drop geometry of the channel heat flux surface
tension and several others In single-phase flow the indication of flow characteristic
is basically based on the information that includes the type of flow which is either
laminar or turbulent as well as the existence of flow separation or secondary flows
In this paper an overvIew of gas-liquid flow in a circular cross section
microchannel is given Liquid and gas are mixed in the mixing chamber and entered
the multi phase micro-capillary hence produced several significance flow patterns
The flow morphologies of mixtures made of water and air produced at the
micrometer scale flowing in a channel of circular cross section are then studied
111 Dispersed Phase and Separated Flows
According to Corradini (1998) there are two basic types of flow patterns that
have been identified which are dispersed and stratified Dispersed flow is a type of
flow in where one phase which is in the form of discrete element is dispersed or
distributed in the other continuous phase (Patel 2010) The discrete element may be
in the form of finite particles drops or bubbles There are few examples of flow that
can be used to explain dispersed phase As in the cases for gas-solid and liquid-solid
flows the discrete elements are always in the solid phase since solid particles are not
connected with each other Meanwhile the dispersed phase in gas-liquid flow is
primarily affected by the flow rates of both phases involved For instance bubbly
flow pattern is obtained as the flow rate of the gas is significantly lower than the
liquid flow rate In addition the shape or size of the dispersed phase is governed by
2
Chapter 1 Introduction
everal factors that include balance of buoyancy inertial and surface tension forces
(Corradini 1998)
Meanwhile stratified flow is a type of flow in where the two phases involved
are separated by a distinct line of contact (Patel 2010) In contrast with bubbly flow
greater flow rate of gas phase has resulted in vertical annular flow pattern in where
there is a liquid layer along the pipe wall alongside a gaseous inner core In other
words as for the cases of horizontal and vertical flows the two different streams are
separated from each other yet travel along in the same medium due to the density and
mass flowrate differences respectively (Corradini 1998)
112 Gas-Liquid Flow
Gas-liquid flow is characterized with the flow of two phases in which one of
the phases is in gaseous form while the other is in liquid form This combination of
flows in pipes has resulted in various configurations or flow patterns ranging from
bubbly flow to annular flow There are several industries that utilize the application
of gas-liquid flow which include bubble columns the generation of small droplets
for combustion in power generation system as well as the formation of droplet for
spray forming especially in materials processing
113 Gas-Solid Flow
Flow of gas phase together with suspended solid particles best described gasshy
solid flow This type of flow has been widely used to many industrial applications
which include pneumatic transport pollution control and so on For pneumatic
3
Chapter 1 Introduction
transport it is the main method of transporting solid materials According to (Crowe
2011) in vertical up-flow orientation the velocity of the gas has to be greater than
the settling velocity of the particles in order to maintain the transport
114 Liquid-Solid Flow
Liquid-solid flow involves the flow of solid particles that are carried via the
liquid phase This type of flow can be classified under dispersed phase flow due to
the dispersion of solid particles within the continuous liquid phase The discrete
elements are conveyed through the channel by the drag and pressure forces exerted
by the liquid phase (Weber 2010) The distribution of solid particles in the flow is
dependent on several factors which involve the properties of solid and carrier liquid
parameters of the channel flow direction and many others Liquid-solid fluidization
sedimentation and filtration are some typical examples of liquid-solid flow Those
mentioned applications are mostly used in the industry for the purpose of separation
115 Three-Phase Flows
Other than gas-liquid gas-solid and liquid-solid flows three-phase flow is
another example of multi phase flows that is encountered in engineering applications
An example for three-phase flow is the occurrence of bubbles in slurry which in
returns have produced three-phase flows flowing together There are not much
literature or related materials on this type of flow yet this flow is identified to be
interesting branch of study for multiphase flows
4
Pusat Khidmat MaldumatAkademil Chapter 1 Ul1lElSm tAJAVSIA SARAWA Introduction
12 Industrial Application Involving Multiphase Flow
As mentioned earlier multiphase fluid flows can be found in various
industrial processes or applications One of the most common examples is the
application of bubble column Bubble column device is where gas that is in the form
of bubbles come in contact with liquid with the main objective which is to mix the
liquid phase (Zehner and Kraume 2005) This device is commonly used as
multiphase contactors and reactors especially in chemical biochemical and
petrochemical industries since they offer several benefits during operation and
maintenance which include high heat and mass transfer rates compactness as well
as low operating and maintenance cost (Kantarci Borak and Ulgen 2004)
In bubble column the liquid may flow in either two ways which are coshy
current or counter-current to the gas flow direction An example of the simplest
bubble column is the one that consists of a vertical tube with no internals or in other
words the column is installed without any trays packings or shafts Besides for
simplest design of bubble column the gas is fed into the column at the bottom pass
through the liquid and later escaping from the upper surface If the released gas
contains high concentration of valuable reactants recycle design can be
implemented To date the simplest form of bubble column is rarely used since
numerous types of modifications are employed in order to achieve more efficient
design system
According to Kantarci et al (2004) there are three types of flow regimes that
are commonly found in bubbles columns that are bubbly flow churn-turbulent flow
and slug flow regime These flow regimes are determined according to the
superficial gas velocity applied in the column Based on the literature written by
5
Chapter 1 Introduction
previous authors bubbly flow regime is obtained at low superficial gas velocities
meanwhile churn-turbulent regime started to develop at higher superficial gas
velocities For slug flow regime it has been only conducted and observed in a smallshy
scale diameter laboratory columns at high gas flow rates (Hyndman and Larachi
1997)
13 Microchannel
Microchannel can be defined as channel with dimension that is less than 1
mm and greater than I micron (~) (Sharp et aI 2005) For other dimensions that are
above 1 mm the behaviors of the flow are observed to be the same as most
macroscopic flows Microchannel has gradually received attention due to the several
benefits offered which include high surface to volume ratio high throughput in
parallel processing reduction in the volume of sample required and many others
Greater surface to volume ratio has resulted in high rate of heat and mass transfer or
in other words enhance the heat transfer rates (Kandlikar 2012 Qian and Lawai
2006) In returns micro device has become an excellent and preferable tool for heat
exchanger
As the dimension scale is reduced to micrometric scale surface to volume
ratio has become significantly important Surface tension as well as viscous force has
dominated the system as compared to gravitational force (Ahmed-Orner and Wirth
2008) In other words the flow regimes observed for two-phase flows in
microchannel are different from the regimes mapped in larger channels (Ventakesan
et aI 2010) Surface tension is originated from the intermolecular forces in which
this forces are generally negligible at macrometric scale (Bayraktar and Pidugu
6
Dedicated to my beloved family and friends
ii
- shy
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to thank my supervisor Assoc Prof Dr Khairuddin Sanaullah
of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak from Chemical Engineering department for his
invaluable supervision guidance and support towards the completion of this thesis I
would also like to extend my gratitude to Mr Afrasyab Khan for his contribution and
encouragement throughout the course of this project Last but not least my deepest
gratitude and appreciation goes to my beloved family and friends for their infinite
love support and motivations along completing my four year undergraduate study
ABSTRACT
Microchannel has gradually received attention due to its high surface to volume ratio
which indirectly resulted in high rate of heat and mass transfer To achieve more
efficient system it is likely that one should have the basic understanding on the flow
morphologies at the microscale Currently many industrial applications such as heat
exchanger bubble columns pneumatic transport pollution control and many others
facing the multi phase flow condition Multiphase flow can be defined as the
simultaneous flow of more than one phase such as gas-solid gas-liquid as well as
gas-liquid-solid flows Each of those multiphase flows produces different flow
regimes It is identified that studies on the flow regimes are important due to the
greater influence on the heat transfer rate as well as the hydrodynamics
characteristics of the flow Thus throughout this project numerical study with the
application of Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) software is perform to model
simulate and observe the flow regimes mapped for gas-liquid multiphase flow in a
vertically oriented microchannel
iv
ABSTRAK
Saluran mikro kini telah beransur-ansur mendapat perhatian kerana nisbah jumlah
luas permukaan kepada isi padunya yang besar secara tidak lansung menghasilkan
kadar pemindahan haba dan jisim yang tinggi Untuk mendapatkan sistem yang lebih
efisien adalah penting bagi seseorang untuk mempunyai kefahaman asas mengenai
morfologi aliran pad a skala mikro Pad a mas a ini terdapat pelbagai aplikasi industri
yang mengalami situasi aliran berbilang fasa seperti penukar haba kolom
gelembung pengangkutan pneumatik kawalan pencemaran dan lain-lain Aliran
berbilang fasa boleh ditakrifkan sebagai aliran serentak yang melibatkan lebih
daripada satu fasa seperti aliran gas-pepejal gas-cecair serta gas-cecair-pepejal
Setiap jenis aliran berbilang fasa menghasilkan rejim aliran yang berbeza Kajian
terhadap rejim aliran adalah penting kerana pengaruhnya yang besar terhadap kadar
permindahan haba serta ciri-ciri hidronamik aliran Oleh itu melalui projek ini
kaj ian berangka dengan menggunakan dinamika fluida pengkomputeran telah
dijalankan bagi memerhati aliran rejim yang dikenal pasti untuk gas-cecair aliran
berbilang fasa dalam sa luran mikro yang menegak
v
Pusat Khidmat Maklumat Akademi iJ [ VERSm MALAYSIA SA vA
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
TITLE PAGE
DEDICATION II
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Xlll
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT III
ABSTRACT IV
ABSTRAK V
TABLE OF CONTENTS VI
LIST OF TABLES IX
LIST OF FIGURES X
LIST OF SYMBOLS XII
LIST OF NOMENCLATURE XIV
Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION
11 Multiphase Flow
111 Dispersed Phase and Separated Flows 2
112 Gas-Liquid Flow 3
113 Gas-Solid Flow 3
114 Liquid-Solid Flow 4
11 5 Three-Phase Flows 4
12 Industrial Application Involving Multiphase Flow 5
13 Microchannel 6
14 Overview of Flow Pattern 7
15 Problem Statement 9
16 Objectives and Scopes of Study 9
17 Additional Information of Report 10
vi
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
LITERA TURE REVIEW
21 Materials and Fabrication Technique 11
211 Machining 12
22 Dimensionless Number and Forces Dominate in Microchannel 12
221 Surface Tension 14
23 Two-phase Gas-Liquid Flow 15
24 Mixing in Microchannel 19
25 Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) 22
251 Volume of Fluid (VOF) Model 23
252 Mixture Model 24
253 Eulerian Model 24
26 Flow Patterns in Vertical Upflow 25
METHODOLOGY
31 Introduction 28
32 Objective 29
33 Phase One 29
331 Literature Review 30
332 Design Criteria 30
333 Experimental Setup 31
34 Phase Two 32
341 Experimental Design 33
342 Identify the Domain 34
343 Create a Solid Model of the Domain 35
344 Design and Create the Mesh 36
345 Set Up the Solver 39
346 Compute the Solution 41
347 Examine the Result 42
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
41 Introduction 43
411 Simulation 3 44
412 Simulation 4 47
413 Simulation 5 49
414 Simulation 6 51
vii
415 Simulation 7
42 Discussion
Chapter 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
51 Conclusions
52 Recommendations
REFERENCES
APPENDIX
viii
53
55
57
58
59
68
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
I
20 Density and Surface Tension of Water Against Air at Various 14
Temperatures (Weast and Astle 1982)
30 Dimensions of Capillaries 35
31 Determination of Cell Quality 37
32 Details of Mesh 37
33 Material Properties 40
34 Problem Setup 40
40 Result for the Simulation 43
ix
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
21 Flow Regimes Map (Saisorn and Wongwises 2011) 16
Two-phase Flow Regimes Map for a 100 Jlm Microchannel 22 18
(Kawahara et aI 2002)
23 T - junctions
T - junction with gas and liquid inlet perpendicular to the 23a 20
main channel
T- junction with either gas or liquid inlet is in the direction 23b 20
of the main channel
24 y- junction 21
25 Cross- junction 21
26 Flow- focusing 21
27 Flow Patterns in Vertical Upflow (Azzopardi nd) 26
Steps Involved in Developing the Methodologies for the Design 31 28
Project
32 Subjects Reviewed in Literature Review 30
33 Steps Involved in Determining the Design Criteria 31
34 Steps Involved in Preparation of Complete Experimental Facility 32
35 Adjusted Design of the Microchannel 34
36 Final Design for the Microchannel 34
37 Overall Test Section 35
38 3D Domain(Bakker 2002) 36
39 Meshing for Air Capillary 38
310 Meshing for Water Capillary 38
311 Meshing for Multiphase Capillary 39
312 Steps Involved in Solver Setting 39
41 Contours of Volume Fraction (Air) for Simulation 3 44
42 Overall Figure for Simulation 3 45
x
43 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 3 46
44 Overall Figure for Simulation 4 47
45 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 4 48
46 Overall Figure for Simulation 5 49
47 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 5 50
48 Overall Figure for Simulation 6 51
49 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 6 52
410 Overall Figure for Simulation 7 53
411 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 7 54
412 Annular Flow (taken from Saisom and Wongwises 2011) 55
413 Annular Flow (Simulation 7) 55
xi
J
0
LIST OF SYMBOLS
D Diameter
jo Superficial velocity for gas
JL Superficial velocity for liquid
p Secondary phase
q Primary phase
Qo Volumetric flowrate for gas
QL Volumetric flowrate for liquid
Re Reynolds
St Stokes
va vp Velocity of gas
VL Vq Velocity of liquid
vqp Slip velocity
Degree
degc Degree Celsius
y Surface tension
(4) Velocity ratio
a Void fraction
xii
-----
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
3D 3-Dimensional
CFD Computational Fluid Dynamic
CMC Carboxymethyl Cellulose
SDS Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate
VOF Volume of Fluid
xiii
LIST OF NOMENCLATURE
abn Atmosphere
cm Centimeter
dynecm Dyne per centimeter
glcm3 Gram per cubic meter
JkgmiddotK Joule per kilogram kelvin
kglmmiddots Kilogram per meter second
kglm3 Kilogram per cubic meter
mm Millimeter
mls Meter per second
mls2 Meter per square second
Nm Newton per meter
WmmiddotK Watts per meter kelvin
J1 Micron
J1m Micrometer
xiv
CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION
11 Multiphase Flow
A phase may refer to states of matter which include solid liquid and vapor
(Crowe and Michaelides 2006) Then a multiphase flow can be defined as the
simultaneous flow of a mixture of different states or phases such as gas-liquid gasshy
solid liquid-solid or gas-liquid-solid Multiphase flow specifically two-phase flows
are found in wide range of industrial applications which comprise power generation
hydrocarbon recovery and processing food manufacturing as well as in most aspects
of chemical engineering such as distillation absorption evaporation condensation
and many others As for the extraction and transportation of crude oil from the
reservoir up to the surface it involves various phases that are gas oil water and
solids Even more complex cases have been facing the industry as the formations of
hydrates and wax frequently occur in the production line
As mentioned previously there are several combinations of multi phase flows
For each combination that flows in a given channel various form of interfacial
distributions that are also called as flow patterns are observed Out of the four types
of flow that have been listed gas-liquid flow is identified as the most complex flow
due to the combination of characteristics that involve deformable interface and the
compressibility of one of the phases (Ghajar 2005 Rahman Heidrick and Fleck
Chapter 1 Introduction
2009) Besides classification of multiphase flow is not as simple as single-phase
flow since there is several other factors need to be considered in a multi scale
structured flow such as pressure drop geometry of the channel heat flux surface
tension and several others In single-phase flow the indication of flow characteristic
is basically based on the information that includes the type of flow which is either
laminar or turbulent as well as the existence of flow separation or secondary flows
In this paper an overvIew of gas-liquid flow in a circular cross section
microchannel is given Liquid and gas are mixed in the mixing chamber and entered
the multi phase micro-capillary hence produced several significance flow patterns
The flow morphologies of mixtures made of water and air produced at the
micrometer scale flowing in a channel of circular cross section are then studied
111 Dispersed Phase and Separated Flows
According to Corradini (1998) there are two basic types of flow patterns that
have been identified which are dispersed and stratified Dispersed flow is a type of
flow in where one phase which is in the form of discrete element is dispersed or
distributed in the other continuous phase (Patel 2010) The discrete element may be
in the form of finite particles drops or bubbles There are few examples of flow that
can be used to explain dispersed phase As in the cases for gas-solid and liquid-solid
flows the discrete elements are always in the solid phase since solid particles are not
connected with each other Meanwhile the dispersed phase in gas-liquid flow is
primarily affected by the flow rates of both phases involved For instance bubbly
flow pattern is obtained as the flow rate of the gas is significantly lower than the
liquid flow rate In addition the shape or size of the dispersed phase is governed by
2
Chapter 1 Introduction
everal factors that include balance of buoyancy inertial and surface tension forces
(Corradini 1998)
Meanwhile stratified flow is a type of flow in where the two phases involved
are separated by a distinct line of contact (Patel 2010) In contrast with bubbly flow
greater flow rate of gas phase has resulted in vertical annular flow pattern in where
there is a liquid layer along the pipe wall alongside a gaseous inner core In other
words as for the cases of horizontal and vertical flows the two different streams are
separated from each other yet travel along in the same medium due to the density and
mass flowrate differences respectively (Corradini 1998)
112 Gas-Liquid Flow
Gas-liquid flow is characterized with the flow of two phases in which one of
the phases is in gaseous form while the other is in liquid form This combination of
flows in pipes has resulted in various configurations or flow patterns ranging from
bubbly flow to annular flow There are several industries that utilize the application
of gas-liquid flow which include bubble columns the generation of small droplets
for combustion in power generation system as well as the formation of droplet for
spray forming especially in materials processing
113 Gas-Solid Flow
Flow of gas phase together with suspended solid particles best described gasshy
solid flow This type of flow has been widely used to many industrial applications
which include pneumatic transport pollution control and so on For pneumatic
3
Chapter 1 Introduction
transport it is the main method of transporting solid materials According to (Crowe
2011) in vertical up-flow orientation the velocity of the gas has to be greater than
the settling velocity of the particles in order to maintain the transport
114 Liquid-Solid Flow
Liquid-solid flow involves the flow of solid particles that are carried via the
liquid phase This type of flow can be classified under dispersed phase flow due to
the dispersion of solid particles within the continuous liquid phase The discrete
elements are conveyed through the channel by the drag and pressure forces exerted
by the liquid phase (Weber 2010) The distribution of solid particles in the flow is
dependent on several factors which involve the properties of solid and carrier liquid
parameters of the channel flow direction and many others Liquid-solid fluidization
sedimentation and filtration are some typical examples of liquid-solid flow Those
mentioned applications are mostly used in the industry for the purpose of separation
115 Three-Phase Flows
Other than gas-liquid gas-solid and liquid-solid flows three-phase flow is
another example of multi phase flows that is encountered in engineering applications
An example for three-phase flow is the occurrence of bubbles in slurry which in
returns have produced three-phase flows flowing together There are not much
literature or related materials on this type of flow yet this flow is identified to be
interesting branch of study for multiphase flows
4
Pusat Khidmat MaldumatAkademil Chapter 1 Ul1lElSm tAJAVSIA SARAWA Introduction
12 Industrial Application Involving Multiphase Flow
As mentioned earlier multiphase fluid flows can be found in various
industrial processes or applications One of the most common examples is the
application of bubble column Bubble column device is where gas that is in the form
of bubbles come in contact with liquid with the main objective which is to mix the
liquid phase (Zehner and Kraume 2005) This device is commonly used as
multiphase contactors and reactors especially in chemical biochemical and
petrochemical industries since they offer several benefits during operation and
maintenance which include high heat and mass transfer rates compactness as well
as low operating and maintenance cost (Kantarci Borak and Ulgen 2004)
In bubble column the liquid may flow in either two ways which are coshy
current or counter-current to the gas flow direction An example of the simplest
bubble column is the one that consists of a vertical tube with no internals or in other
words the column is installed without any trays packings or shafts Besides for
simplest design of bubble column the gas is fed into the column at the bottom pass
through the liquid and later escaping from the upper surface If the released gas
contains high concentration of valuable reactants recycle design can be
implemented To date the simplest form of bubble column is rarely used since
numerous types of modifications are employed in order to achieve more efficient
design system
According to Kantarci et al (2004) there are three types of flow regimes that
are commonly found in bubbles columns that are bubbly flow churn-turbulent flow
and slug flow regime These flow regimes are determined according to the
superficial gas velocity applied in the column Based on the literature written by
5
Chapter 1 Introduction
previous authors bubbly flow regime is obtained at low superficial gas velocities
meanwhile churn-turbulent regime started to develop at higher superficial gas
velocities For slug flow regime it has been only conducted and observed in a smallshy
scale diameter laboratory columns at high gas flow rates (Hyndman and Larachi
1997)
13 Microchannel
Microchannel can be defined as channel with dimension that is less than 1
mm and greater than I micron (~) (Sharp et aI 2005) For other dimensions that are
above 1 mm the behaviors of the flow are observed to be the same as most
macroscopic flows Microchannel has gradually received attention due to the several
benefits offered which include high surface to volume ratio high throughput in
parallel processing reduction in the volume of sample required and many others
Greater surface to volume ratio has resulted in high rate of heat and mass transfer or
in other words enhance the heat transfer rates (Kandlikar 2012 Qian and Lawai
2006) In returns micro device has become an excellent and preferable tool for heat
exchanger
As the dimension scale is reduced to micrometric scale surface to volume
ratio has become significantly important Surface tension as well as viscous force has
dominated the system as compared to gravitational force (Ahmed-Orner and Wirth
2008) In other words the flow regimes observed for two-phase flows in
microchannel are different from the regimes mapped in larger channels (Ventakesan
et aI 2010) Surface tension is originated from the intermolecular forces in which
this forces are generally negligible at macrometric scale (Bayraktar and Pidugu
6
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to thank my supervisor Assoc Prof Dr Khairuddin Sanaullah
of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak from Chemical Engineering department for his
invaluable supervision guidance and support towards the completion of this thesis I
would also like to extend my gratitude to Mr Afrasyab Khan for his contribution and
encouragement throughout the course of this project Last but not least my deepest
gratitude and appreciation goes to my beloved family and friends for their infinite
love support and motivations along completing my four year undergraduate study
ABSTRACT
Microchannel has gradually received attention due to its high surface to volume ratio
which indirectly resulted in high rate of heat and mass transfer To achieve more
efficient system it is likely that one should have the basic understanding on the flow
morphologies at the microscale Currently many industrial applications such as heat
exchanger bubble columns pneumatic transport pollution control and many others
facing the multi phase flow condition Multiphase flow can be defined as the
simultaneous flow of more than one phase such as gas-solid gas-liquid as well as
gas-liquid-solid flows Each of those multiphase flows produces different flow
regimes It is identified that studies on the flow regimes are important due to the
greater influence on the heat transfer rate as well as the hydrodynamics
characteristics of the flow Thus throughout this project numerical study with the
application of Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) software is perform to model
simulate and observe the flow regimes mapped for gas-liquid multiphase flow in a
vertically oriented microchannel
iv
ABSTRAK
Saluran mikro kini telah beransur-ansur mendapat perhatian kerana nisbah jumlah
luas permukaan kepada isi padunya yang besar secara tidak lansung menghasilkan
kadar pemindahan haba dan jisim yang tinggi Untuk mendapatkan sistem yang lebih
efisien adalah penting bagi seseorang untuk mempunyai kefahaman asas mengenai
morfologi aliran pad a skala mikro Pad a mas a ini terdapat pelbagai aplikasi industri
yang mengalami situasi aliran berbilang fasa seperti penukar haba kolom
gelembung pengangkutan pneumatik kawalan pencemaran dan lain-lain Aliran
berbilang fasa boleh ditakrifkan sebagai aliran serentak yang melibatkan lebih
daripada satu fasa seperti aliran gas-pepejal gas-cecair serta gas-cecair-pepejal
Setiap jenis aliran berbilang fasa menghasilkan rejim aliran yang berbeza Kajian
terhadap rejim aliran adalah penting kerana pengaruhnya yang besar terhadap kadar
permindahan haba serta ciri-ciri hidronamik aliran Oleh itu melalui projek ini
kaj ian berangka dengan menggunakan dinamika fluida pengkomputeran telah
dijalankan bagi memerhati aliran rejim yang dikenal pasti untuk gas-cecair aliran
berbilang fasa dalam sa luran mikro yang menegak
v
Pusat Khidmat Maklumat Akademi iJ [ VERSm MALAYSIA SA vA
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
TITLE PAGE
DEDICATION II
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Xlll
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT III
ABSTRACT IV
ABSTRAK V
TABLE OF CONTENTS VI
LIST OF TABLES IX
LIST OF FIGURES X
LIST OF SYMBOLS XII
LIST OF NOMENCLATURE XIV
Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION
11 Multiphase Flow
111 Dispersed Phase and Separated Flows 2
112 Gas-Liquid Flow 3
113 Gas-Solid Flow 3
114 Liquid-Solid Flow 4
11 5 Three-Phase Flows 4
12 Industrial Application Involving Multiphase Flow 5
13 Microchannel 6
14 Overview of Flow Pattern 7
15 Problem Statement 9
16 Objectives and Scopes of Study 9
17 Additional Information of Report 10
vi
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
LITERA TURE REVIEW
21 Materials and Fabrication Technique 11
211 Machining 12
22 Dimensionless Number and Forces Dominate in Microchannel 12
221 Surface Tension 14
23 Two-phase Gas-Liquid Flow 15
24 Mixing in Microchannel 19
25 Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) 22
251 Volume of Fluid (VOF) Model 23
252 Mixture Model 24
253 Eulerian Model 24
26 Flow Patterns in Vertical Upflow 25
METHODOLOGY
31 Introduction 28
32 Objective 29
33 Phase One 29
331 Literature Review 30
332 Design Criteria 30
333 Experimental Setup 31
34 Phase Two 32
341 Experimental Design 33
342 Identify the Domain 34
343 Create a Solid Model of the Domain 35
344 Design and Create the Mesh 36
345 Set Up the Solver 39
346 Compute the Solution 41
347 Examine the Result 42
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
41 Introduction 43
411 Simulation 3 44
412 Simulation 4 47
413 Simulation 5 49
414 Simulation 6 51
vii
415 Simulation 7
42 Discussion
Chapter 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
51 Conclusions
52 Recommendations
REFERENCES
APPENDIX
viii
53
55
57
58
59
68
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
I
20 Density and Surface Tension of Water Against Air at Various 14
Temperatures (Weast and Astle 1982)
30 Dimensions of Capillaries 35
31 Determination of Cell Quality 37
32 Details of Mesh 37
33 Material Properties 40
34 Problem Setup 40
40 Result for the Simulation 43
ix
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
21 Flow Regimes Map (Saisorn and Wongwises 2011) 16
Two-phase Flow Regimes Map for a 100 Jlm Microchannel 22 18
(Kawahara et aI 2002)
23 T - junctions
T - junction with gas and liquid inlet perpendicular to the 23a 20
main channel
T- junction with either gas or liquid inlet is in the direction 23b 20
of the main channel
24 y- junction 21
25 Cross- junction 21
26 Flow- focusing 21
27 Flow Patterns in Vertical Upflow (Azzopardi nd) 26
Steps Involved in Developing the Methodologies for the Design 31 28
Project
32 Subjects Reviewed in Literature Review 30
33 Steps Involved in Determining the Design Criteria 31
34 Steps Involved in Preparation of Complete Experimental Facility 32
35 Adjusted Design of the Microchannel 34
36 Final Design for the Microchannel 34
37 Overall Test Section 35
38 3D Domain(Bakker 2002) 36
39 Meshing for Air Capillary 38
310 Meshing for Water Capillary 38
311 Meshing for Multiphase Capillary 39
312 Steps Involved in Solver Setting 39
41 Contours of Volume Fraction (Air) for Simulation 3 44
42 Overall Figure for Simulation 3 45
x
43 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 3 46
44 Overall Figure for Simulation 4 47
45 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 4 48
46 Overall Figure for Simulation 5 49
47 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 5 50
48 Overall Figure for Simulation 6 51
49 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 6 52
410 Overall Figure for Simulation 7 53
411 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 7 54
412 Annular Flow (taken from Saisom and Wongwises 2011) 55
413 Annular Flow (Simulation 7) 55
xi
J
0
LIST OF SYMBOLS
D Diameter
jo Superficial velocity for gas
JL Superficial velocity for liquid
p Secondary phase
q Primary phase
Qo Volumetric flowrate for gas
QL Volumetric flowrate for liquid
Re Reynolds
St Stokes
va vp Velocity of gas
VL Vq Velocity of liquid
vqp Slip velocity
Degree
degc Degree Celsius
y Surface tension
(4) Velocity ratio
a Void fraction
xii
-----
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
3D 3-Dimensional
CFD Computational Fluid Dynamic
CMC Carboxymethyl Cellulose
SDS Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate
VOF Volume of Fluid
xiii
LIST OF NOMENCLATURE
abn Atmosphere
cm Centimeter
dynecm Dyne per centimeter
glcm3 Gram per cubic meter
JkgmiddotK Joule per kilogram kelvin
kglmmiddots Kilogram per meter second
kglm3 Kilogram per cubic meter
mm Millimeter
mls Meter per second
mls2 Meter per square second
Nm Newton per meter
WmmiddotK Watts per meter kelvin
J1 Micron
J1m Micrometer
xiv
CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION
11 Multiphase Flow
A phase may refer to states of matter which include solid liquid and vapor
(Crowe and Michaelides 2006) Then a multiphase flow can be defined as the
simultaneous flow of a mixture of different states or phases such as gas-liquid gasshy
solid liquid-solid or gas-liquid-solid Multiphase flow specifically two-phase flows
are found in wide range of industrial applications which comprise power generation
hydrocarbon recovery and processing food manufacturing as well as in most aspects
of chemical engineering such as distillation absorption evaporation condensation
and many others As for the extraction and transportation of crude oil from the
reservoir up to the surface it involves various phases that are gas oil water and
solids Even more complex cases have been facing the industry as the formations of
hydrates and wax frequently occur in the production line
As mentioned previously there are several combinations of multi phase flows
For each combination that flows in a given channel various form of interfacial
distributions that are also called as flow patterns are observed Out of the four types
of flow that have been listed gas-liquid flow is identified as the most complex flow
due to the combination of characteristics that involve deformable interface and the
compressibility of one of the phases (Ghajar 2005 Rahman Heidrick and Fleck
Chapter 1 Introduction
2009) Besides classification of multiphase flow is not as simple as single-phase
flow since there is several other factors need to be considered in a multi scale
structured flow such as pressure drop geometry of the channel heat flux surface
tension and several others In single-phase flow the indication of flow characteristic
is basically based on the information that includes the type of flow which is either
laminar or turbulent as well as the existence of flow separation or secondary flows
In this paper an overvIew of gas-liquid flow in a circular cross section
microchannel is given Liquid and gas are mixed in the mixing chamber and entered
the multi phase micro-capillary hence produced several significance flow patterns
The flow morphologies of mixtures made of water and air produced at the
micrometer scale flowing in a channel of circular cross section are then studied
111 Dispersed Phase and Separated Flows
According to Corradini (1998) there are two basic types of flow patterns that
have been identified which are dispersed and stratified Dispersed flow is a type of
flow in where one phase which is in the form of discrete element is dispersed or
distributed in the other continuous phase (Patel 2010) The discrete element may be
in the form of finite particles drops or bubbles There are few examples of flow that
can be used to explain dispersed phase As in the cases for gas-solid and liquid-solid
flows the discrete elements are always in the solid phase since solid particles are not
connected with each other Meanwhile the dispersed phase in gas-liquid flow is
primarily affected by the flow rates of both phases involved For instance bubbly
flow pattern is obtained as the flow rate of the gas is significantly lower than the
liquid flow rate In addition the shape or size of the dispersed phase is governed by
2
Chapter 1 Introduction
everal factors that include balance of buoyancy inertial and surface tension forces
(Corradini 1998)
Meanwhile stratified flow is a type of flow in where the two phases involved
are separated by a distinct line of contact (Patel 2010) In contrast with bubbly flow
greater flow rate of gas phase has resulted in vertical annular flow pattern in where
there is a liquid layer along the pipe wall alongside a gaseous inner core In other
words as for the cases of horizontal and vertical flows the two different streams are
separated from each other yet travel along in the same medium due to the density and
mass flowrate differences respectively (Corradini 1998)
112 Gas-Liquid Flow
Gas-liquid flow is characterized with the flow of two phases in which one of
the phases is in gaseous form while the other is in liquid form This combination of
flows in pipes has resulted in various configurations or flow patterns ranging from
bubbly flow to annular flow There are several industries that utilize the application
of gas-liquid flow which include bubble columns the generation of small droplets
for combustion in power generation system as well as the formation of droplet for
spray forming especially in materials processing
113 Gas-Solid Flow
Flow of gas phase together with suspended solid particles best described gasshy
solid flow This type of flow has been widely used to many industrial applications
which include pneumatic transport pollution control and so on For pneumatic
3
Chapter 1 Introduction
transport it is the main method of transporting solid materials According to (Crowe
2011) in vertical up-flow orientation the velocity of the gas has to be greater than
the settling velocity of the particles in order to maintain the transport
114 Liquid-Solid Flow
Liquid-solid flow involves the flow of solid particles that are carried via the
liquid phase This type of flow can be classified under dispersed phase flow due to
the dispersion of solid particles within the continuous liquid phase The discrete
elements are conveyed through the channel by the drag and pressure forces exerted
by the liquid phase (Weber 2010) The distribution of solid particles in the flow is
dependent on several factors which involve the properties of solid and carrier liquid
parameters of the channel flow direction and many others Liquid-solid fluidization
sedimentation and filtration are some typical examples of liquid-solid flow Those
mentioned applications are mostly used in the industry for the purpose of separation
115 Three-Phase Flows
Other than gas-liquid gas-solid and liquid-solid flows three-phase flow is
another example of multi phase flows that is encountered in engineering applications
An example for three-phase flow is the occurrence of bubbles in slurry which in
returns have produced three-phase flows flowing together There are not much
literature or related materials on this type of flow yet this flow is identified to be
interesting branch of study for multiphase flows
4
Pusat Khidmat MaldumatAkademil Chapter 1 Ul1lElSm tAJAVSIA SARAWA Introduction
12 Industrial Application Involving Multiphase Flow
As mentioned earlier multiphase fluid flows can be found in various
industrial processes or applications One of the most common examples is the
application of bubble column Bubble column device is where gas that is in the form
of bubbles come in contact with liquid with the main objective which is to mix the
liquid phase (Zehner and Kraume 2005) This device is commonly used as
multiphase contactors and reactors especially in chemical biochemical and
petrochemical industries since they offer several benefits during operation and
maintenance which include high heat and mass transfer rates compactness as well
as low operating and maintenance cost (Kantarci Borak and Ulgen 2004)
In bubble column the liquid may flow in either two ways which are coshy
current or counter-current to the gas flow direction An example of the simplest
bubble column is the one that consists of a vertical tube with no internals or in other
words the column is installed without any trays packings or shafts Besides for
simplest design of bubble column the gas is fed into the column at the bottom pass
through the liquid and later escaping from the upper surface If the released gas
contains high concentration of valuable reactants recycle design can be
implemented To date the simplest form of bubble column is rarely used since
numerous types of modifications are employed in order to achieve more efficient
design system
According to Kantarci et al (2004) there are three types of flow regimes that
are commonly found in bubbles columns that are bubbly flow churn-turbulent flow
and slug flow regime These flow regimes are determined according to the
superficial gas velocity applied in the column Based on the literature written by
5
Chapter 1 Introduction
previous authors bubbly flow regime is obtained at low superficial gas velocities
meanwhile churn-turbulent regime started to develop at higher superficial gas
velocities For slug flow regime it has been only conducted and observed in a smallshy
scale diameter laboratory columns at high gas flow rates (Hyndman and Larachi
1997)
13 Microchannel
Microchannel can be defined as channel with dimension that is less than 1
mm and greater than I micron (~) (Sharp et aI 2005) For other dimensions that are
above 1 mm the behaviors of the flow are observed to be the same as most
macroscopic flows Microchannel has gradually received attention due to the several
benefits offered which include high surface to volume ratio high throughput in
parallel processing reduction in the volume of sample required and many others
Greater surface to volume ratio has resulted in high rate of heat and mass transfer or
in other words enhance the heat transfer rates (Kandlikar 2012 Qian and Lawai
2006) In returns micro device has become an excellent and preferable tool for heat
exchanger
As the dimension scale is reduced to micrometric scale surface to volume
ratio has become significantly important Surface tension as well as viscous force has
dominated the system as compared to gravitational force (Ahmed-Orner and Wirth
2008) In other words the flow regimes observed for two-phase flows in
microchannel are different from the regimes mapped in larger channels (Ventakesan
et aI 2010) Surface tension is originated from the intermolecular forces in which
this forces are generally negligible at macrometric scale (Bayraktar and Pidugu
6
ABSTRACT
Microchannel has gradually received attention due to its high surface to volume ratio
which indirectly resulted in high rate of heat and mass transfer To achieve more
efficient system it is likely that one should have the basic understanding on the flow
morphologies at the microscale Currently many industrial applications such as heat
exchanger bubble columns pneumatic transport pollution control and many others
facing the multi phase flow condition Multiphase flow can be defined as the
simultaneous flow of more than one phase such as gas-solid gas-liquid as well as
gas-liquid-solid flows Each of those multiphase flows produces different flow
regimes It is identified that studies on the flow regimes are important due to the
greater influence on the heat transfer rate as well as the hydrodynamics
characteristics of the flow Thus throughout this project numerical study with the
application of Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) software is perform to model
simulate and observe the flow regimes mapped for gas-liquid multiphase flow in a
vertically oriented microchannel
iv
ABSTRAK
Saluran mikro kini telah beransur-ansur mendapat perhatian kerana nisbah jumlah
luas permukaan kepada isi padunya yang besar secara tidak lansung menghasilkan
kadar pemindahan haba dan jisim yang tinggi Untuk mendapatkan sistem yang lebih
efisien adalah penting bagi seseorang untuk mempunyai kefahaman asas mengenai
morfologi aliran pad a skala mikro Pad a mas a ini terdapat pelbagai aplikasi industri
yang mengalami situasi aliran berbilang fasa seperti penukar haba kolom
gelembung pengangkutan pneumatik kawalan pencemaran dan lain-lain Aliran
berbilang fasa boleh ditakrifkan sebagai aliran serentak yang melibatkan lebih
daripada satu fasa seperti aliran gas-pepejal gas-cecair serta gas-cecair-pepejal
Setiap jenis aliran berbilang fasa menghasilkan rejim aliran yang berbeza Kajian
terhadap rejim aliran adalah penting kerana pengaruhnya yang besar terhadap kadar
permindahan haba serta ciri-ciri hidronamik aliran Oleh itu melalui projek ini
kaj ian berangka dengan menggunakan dinamika fluida pengkomputeran telah
dijalankan bagi memerhati aliran rejim yang dikenal pasti untuk gas-cecair aliran
berbilang fasa dalam sa luran mikro yang menegak
v
Pusat Khidmat Maklumat Akademi iJ [ VERSm MALAYSIA SA vA
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
TITLE PAGE
DEDICATION II
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Xlll
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT III
ABSTRACT IV
ABSTRAK V
TABLE OF CONTENTS VI
LIST OF TABLES IX
LIST OF FIGURES X
LIST OF SYMBOLS XII
LIST OF NOMENCLATURE XIV
Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION
11 Multiphase Flow
111 Dispersed Phase and Separated Flows 2
112 Gas-Liquid Flow 3
113 Gas-Solid Flow 3
114 Liquid-Solid Flow 4
11 5 Three-Phase Flows 4
12 Industrial Application Involving Multiphase Flow 5
13 Microchannel 6
14 Overview of Flow Pattern 7
15 Problem Statement 9
16 Objectives and Scopes of Study 9
17 Additional Information of Report 10
vi
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
LITERA TURE REVIEW
21 Materials and Fabrication Technique 11
211 Machining 12
22 Dimensionless Number and Forces Dominate in Microchannel 12
221 Surface Tension 14
23 Two-phase Gas-Liquid Flow 15
24 Mixing in Microchannel 19
25 Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) 22
251 Volume of Fluid (VOF) Model 23
252 Mixture Model 24
253 Eulerian Model 24
26 Flow Patterns in Vertical Upflow 25
METHODOLOGY
31 Introduction 28
32 Objective 29
33 Phase One 29
331 Literature Review 30
332 Design Criteria 30
333 Experimental Setup 31
34 Phase Two 32
341 Experimental Design 33
342 Identify the Domain 34
343 Create a Solid Model of the Domain 35
344 Design and Create the Mesh 36
345 Set Up the Solver 39
346 Compute the Solution 41
347 Examine the Result 42
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
41 Introduction 43
411 Simulation 3 44
412 Simulation 4 47
413 Simulation 5 49
414 Simulation 6 51
vii
415 Simulation 7
42 Discussion
Chapter 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
51 Conclusions
52 Recommendations
REFERENCES
APPENDIX
viii
53
55
57
58
59
68
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
I
20 Density and Surface Tension of Water Against Air at Various 14
Temperatures (Weast and Astle 1982)
30 Dimensions of Capillaries 35
31 Determination of Cell Quality 37
32 Details of Mesh 37
33 Material Properties 40
34 Problem Setup 40
40 Result for the Simulation 43
ix
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
21 Flow Regimes Map (Saisorn and Wongwises 2011) 16
Two-phase Flow Regimes Map for a 100 Jlm Microchannel 22 18
(Kawahara et aI 2002)
23 T - junctions
T - junction with gas and liquid inlet perpendicular to the 23a 20
main channel
T- junction with either gas or liquid inlet is in the direction 23b 20
of the main channel
24 y- junction 21
25 Cross- junction 21
26 Flow- focusing 21
27 Flow Patterns in Vertical Upflow (Azzopardi nd) 26
Steps Involved in Developing the Methodologies for the Design 31 28
Project
32 Subjects Reviewed in Literature Review 30
33 Steps Involved in Determining the Design Criteria 31
34 Steps Involved in Preparation of Complete Experimental Facility 32
35 Adjusted Design of the Microchannel 34
36 Final Design for the Microchannel 34
37 Overall Test Section 35
38 3D Domain(Bakker 2002) 36
39 Meshing for Air Capillary 38
310 Meshing for Water Capillary 38
311 Meshing for Multiphase Capillary 39
312 Steps Involved in Solver Setting 39
41 Contours of Volume Fraction (Air) for Simulation 3 44
42 Overall Figure for Simulation 3 45
x
43 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 3 46
44 Overall Figure for Simulation 4 47
45 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 4 48
46 Overall Figure for Simulation 5 49
47 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 5 50
48 Overall Figure for Simulation 6 51
49 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 6 52
410 Overall Figure for Simulation 7 53
411 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 7 54
412 Annular Flow (taken from Saisom and Wongwises 2011) 55
413 Annular Flow (Simulation 7) 55
xi
J
0
LIST OF SYMBOLS
D Diameter
jo Superficial velocity for gas
JL Superficial velocity for liquid
p Secondary phase
q Primary phase
Qo Volumetric flowrate for gas
QL Volumetric flowrate for liquid
Re Reynolds
St Stokes
va vp Velocity of gas
VL Vq Velocity of liquid
vqp Slip velocity
Degree
degc Degree Celsius
y Surface tension
(4) Velocity ratio
a Void fraction
xii
-----
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
3D 3-Dimensional
CFD Computational Fluid Dynamic
CMC Carboxymethyl Cellulose
SDS Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate
VOF Volume of Fluid
xiii
LIST OF NOMENCLATURE
abn Atmosphere
cm Centimeter
dynecm Dyne per centimeter
glcm3 Gram per cubic meter
JkgmiddotK Joule per kilogram kelvin
kglmmiddots Kilogram per meter second
kglm3 Kilogram per cubic meter
mm Millimeter
mls Meter per second
mls2 Meter per square second
Nm Newton per meter
WmmiddotK Watts per meter kelvin
J1 Micron
J1m Micrometer
xiv
CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION
11 Multiphase Flow
A phase may refer to states of matter which include solid liquid and vapor
(Crowe and Michaelides 2006) Then a multiphase flow can be defined as the
simultaneous flow of a mixture of different states or phases such as gas-liquid gasshy
solid liquid-solid or gas-liquid-solid Multiphase flow specifically two-phase flows
are found in wide range of industrial applications which comprise power generation
hydrocarbon recovery and processing food manufacturing as well as in most aspects
of chemical engineering such as distillation absorption evaporation condensation
and many others As for the extraction and transportation of crude oil from the
reservoir up to the surface it involves various phases that are gas oil water and
solids Even more complex cases have been facing the industry as the formations of
hydrates and wax frequently occur in the production line
As mentioned previously there are several combinations of multi phase flows
For each combination that flows in a given channel various form of interfacial
distributions that are also called as flow patterns are observed Out of the four types
of flow that have been listed gas-liquid flow is identified as the most complex flow
due to the combination of characteristics that involve deformable interface and the
compressibility of one of the phases (Ghajar 2005 Rahman Heidrick and Fleck
Chapter 1 Introduction
2009) Besides classification of multiphase flow is not as simple as single-phase
flow since there is several other factors need to be considered in a multi scale
structured flow such as pressure drop geometry of the channel heat flux surface
tension and several others In single-phase flow the indication of flow characteristic
is basically based on the information that includes the type of flow which is either
laminar or turbulent as well as the existence of flow separation or secondary flows
In this paper an overvIew of gas-liquid flow in a circular cross section
microchannel is given Liquid and gas are mixed in the mixing chamber and entered
the multi phase micro-capillary hence produced several significance flow patterns
The flow morphologies of mixtures made of water and air produced at the
micrometer scale flowing in a channel of circular cross section are then studied
111 Dispersed Phase and Separated Flows
According to Corradini (1998) there are two basic types of flow patterns that
have been identified which are dispersed and stratified Dispersed flow is a type of
flow in where one phase which is in the form of discrete element is dispersed or
distributed in the other continuous phase (Patel 2010) The discrete element may be
in the form of finite particles drops or bubbles There are few examples of flow that
can be used to explain dispersed phase As in the cases for gas-solid and liquid-solid
flows the discrete elements are always in the solid phase since solid particles are not
connected with each other Meanwhile the dispersed phase in gas-liquid flow is
primarily affected by the flow rates of both phases involved For instance bubbly
flow pattern is obtained as the flow rate of the gas is significantly lower than the
liquid flow rate In addition the shape or size of the dispersed phase is governed by
2
Chapter 1 Introduction
everal factors that include balance of buoyancy inertial and surface tension forces
(Corradini 1998)
Meanwhile stratified flow is a type of flow in where the two phases involved
are separated by a distinct line of contact (Patel 2010) In contrast with bubbly flow
greater flow rate of gas phase has resulted in vertical annular flow pattern in where
there is a liquid layer along the pipe wall alongside a gaseous inner core In other
words as for the cases of horizontal and vertical flows the two different streams are
separated from each other yet travel along in the same medium due to the density and
mass flowrate differences respectively (Corradini 1998)
112 Gas-Liquid Flow
Gas-liquid flow is characterized with the flow of two phases in which one of
the phases is in gaseous form while the other is in liquid form This combination of
flows in pipes has resulted in various configurations or flow patterns ranging from
bubbly flow to annular flow There are several industries that utilize the application
of gas-liquid flow which include bubble columns the generation of small droplets
for combustion in power generation system as well as the formation of droplet for
spray forming especially in materials processing
113 Gas-Solid Flow
Flow of gas phase together with suspended solid particles best described gasshy
solid flow This type of flow has been widely used to many industrial applications
which include pneumatic transport pollution control and so on For pneumatic
3
Chapter 1 Introduction
transport it is the main method of transporting solid materials According to (Crowe
2011) in vertical up-flow orientation the velocity of the gas has to be greater than
the settling velocity of the particles in order to maintain the transport
114 Liquid-Solid Flow
Liquid-solid flow involves the flow of solid particles that are carried via the
liquid phase This type of flow can be classified under dispersed phase flow due to
the dispersion of solid particles within the continuous liquid phase The discrete
elements are conveyed through the channel by the drag and pressure forces exerted
by the liquid phase (Weber 2010) The distribution of solid particles in the flow is
dependent on several factors which involve the properties of solid and carrier liquid
parameters of the channel flow direction and many others Liquid-solid fluidization
sedimentation and filtration are some typical examples of liquid-solid flow Those
mentioned applications are mostly used in the industry for the purpose of separation
115 Three-Phase Flows
Other than gas-liquid gas-solid and liquid-solid flows three-phase flow is
another example of multi phase flows that is encountered in engineering applications
An example for three-phase flow is the occurrence of bubbles in slurry which in
returns have produced three-phase flows flowing together There are not much
literature or related materials on this type of flow yet this flow is identified to be
interesting branch of study for multiphase flows
4
Pusat Khidmat MaldumatAkademil Chapter 1 Ul1lElSm tAJAVSIA SARAWA Introduction
12 Industrial Application Involving Multiphase Flow
As mentioned earlier multiphase fluid flows can be found in various
industrial processes or applications One of the most common examples is the
application of bubble column Bubble column device is where gas that is in the form
of bubbles come in contact with liquid with the main objective which is to mix the
liquid phase (Zehner and Kraume 2005) This device is commonly used as
multiphase contactors and reactors especially in chemical biochemical and
petrochemical industries since they offer several benefits during operation and
maintenance which include high heat and mass transfer rates compactness as well
as low operating and maintenance cost (Kantarci Borak and Ulgen 2004)
In bubble column the liquid may flow in either two ways which are coshy
current or counter-current to the gas flow direction An example of the simplest
bubble column is the one that consists of a vertical tube with no internals or in other
words the column is installed without any trays packings or shafts Besides for
simplest design of bubble column the gas is fed into the column at the bottom pass
through the liquid and later escaping from the upper surface If the released gas
contains high concentration of valuable reactants recycle design can be
implemented To date the simplest form of bubble column is rarely used since
numerous types of modifications are employed in order to achieve more efficient
design system
According to Kantarci et al (2004) there are three types of flow regimes that
are commonly found in bubbles columns that are bubbly flow churn-turbulent flow
and slug flow regime These flow regimes are determined according to the
superficial gas velocity applied in the column Based on the literature written by
5
Chapter 1 Introduction
previous authors bubbly flow regime is obtained at low superficial gas velocities
meanwhile churn-turbulent regime started to develop at higher superficial gas
velocities For slug flow regime it has been only conducted and observed in a smallshy
scale diameter laboratory columns at high gas flow rates (Hyndman and Larachi
1997)
13 Microchannel
Microchannel can be defined as channel with dimension that is less than 1
mm and greater than I micron (~) (Sharp et aI 2005) For other dimensions that are
above 1 mm the behaviors of the flow are observed to be the same as most
macroscopic flows Microchannel has gradually received attention due to the several
benefits offered which include high surface to volume ratio high throughput in
parallel processing reduction in the volume of sample required and many others
Greater surface to volume ratio has resulted in high rate of heat and mass transfer or
in other words enhance the heat transfer rates (Kandlikar 2012 Qian and Lawai
2006) In returns micro device has become an excellent and preferable tool for heat
exchanger
As the dimension scale is reduced to micrometric scale surface to volume
ratio has become significantly important Surface tension as well as viscous force has
dominated the system as compared to gravitational force (Ahmed-Orner and Wirth
2008) In other words the flow regimes observed for two-phase flows in
microchannel are different from the regimes mapped in larger channels (Ventakesan
et aI 2010) Surface tension is originated from the intermolecular forces in which
this forces are generally negligible at macrometric scale (Bayraktar and Pidugu
6
ABSTRAK
Saluran mikro kini telah beransur-ansur mendapat perhatian kerana nisbah jumlah
luas permukaan kepada isi padunya yang besar secara tidak lansung menghasilkan
kadar pemindahan haba dan jisim yang tinggi Untuk mendapatkan sistem yang lebih
efisien adalah penting bagi seseorang untuk mempunyai kefahaman asas mengenai
morfologi aliran pad a skala mikro Pad a mas a ini terdapat pelbagai aplikasi industri
yang mengalami situasi aliran berbilang fasa seperti penukar haba kolom
gelembung pengangkutan pneumatik kawalan pencemaran dan lain-lain Aliran
berbilang fasa boleh ditakrifkan sebagai aliran serentak yang melibatkan lebih
daripada satu fasa seperti aliran gas-pepejal gas-cecair serta gas-cecair-pepejal
Setiap jenis aliran berbilang fasa menghasilkan rejim aliran yang berbeza Kajian
terhadap rejim aliran adalah penting kerana pengaruhnya yang besar terhadap kadar
permindahan haba serta ciri-ciri hidronamik aliran Oleh itu melalui projek ini
kaj ian berangka dengan menggunakan dinamika fluida pengkomputeran telah
dijalankan bagi memerhati aliran rejim yang dikenal pasti untuk gas-cecair aliran
berbilang fasa dalam sa luran mikro yang menegak
v
Pusat Khidmat Maklumat Akademi iJ [ VERSm MALAYSIA SA vA
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
TITLE PAGE
DEDICATION II
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Xlll
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT III
ABSTRACT IV
ABSTRAK V
TABLE OF CONTENTS VI
LIST OF TABLES IX
LIST OF FIGURES X
LIST OF SYMBOLS XII
LIST OF NOMENCLATURE XIV
Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION
11 Multiphase Flow
111 Dispersed Phase and Separated Flows 2
112 Gas-Liquid Flow 3
113 Gas-Solid Flow 3
114 Liquid-Solid Flow 4
11 5 Three-Phase Flows 4
12 Industrial Application Involving Multiphase Flow 5
13 Microchannel 6
14 Overview of Flow Pattern 7
15 Problem Statement 9
16 Objectives and Scopes of Study 9
17 Additional Information of Report 10
vi
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
LITERA TURE REVIEW
21 Materials and Fabrication Technique 11
211 Machining 12
22 Dimensionless Number and Forces Dominate in Microchannel 12
221 Surface Tension 14
23 Two-phase Gas-Liquid Flow 15
24 Mixing in Microchannel 19
25 Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) 22
251 Volume of Fluid (VOF) Model 23
252 Mixture Model 24
253 Eulerian Model 24
26 Flow Patterns in Vertical Upflow 25
METHODOLOGY
31 Introduction 28
32 Objective 29
33 Phase One 29
331 Literature Review 30
332 Design Criteria 30
333 Experimental Setup 31
34 Phase Two 32
341 Experimental Design 33
342 Identify the Domain 34
343 Create a Solid Model of the Domain 35
344 Design and Create the Mesh 36
345 Set Up the Solver 39
346 Compute the Solution 41
347 Examine the Result 42
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
41 Introduction 43
411 Simulation 3 44
412 Simulation 4 47
413 Simulation 5 49
414 Simulation 6 51
vii
415 Simulation 7
42 Discussion
Chapter 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
51 Conclusions
52 Recommendations
REFERENCES
APPENDIX
viii
53
55
57
58
59
68
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
I
20 Density and Surface Tension of Water Against Air at Various 14
Temperatures (Weast and Astle 1982)
30 Dimensions of Capillaries 35
31 Determination of Cell Quality 37
32 Details of Mesh 37
33 Material Properties 40
34 Problem Setup 40
40 Result for the Simulation 43
ix
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
21 Flow Regimes Map (Saisorn and Wongwises 2011) 16
Two-phase Flow Regimes Map for a 100 Jlm Microchannel 22 18
(Kawahara et aI 2002)
23 T - junctions
T - junction with gas and liquid inlet perpendicular to the 23a 20
main channel
T- junction with either gas or liquid inlet is in the direction 23b 20
of the main channel
24 y- junction 21
25 Cross- junction 21
26 Flow- focusing 21
27 Flow Patterns in Vertical Upflow (Azzopardi nd) 26
Steps Involved in Developing the Methodologies for the Design 31 28
Project
32 Subjects Reviewed in Literature Review 30
33 Steps Involved in Determining the Design Criteria 31
34 Steps Involved in Preparation of Complete Experimental Facility 32
35 Adjusted Design of the Microchannel 34
36 Final Design for the Microchannel 34
37 Overall Test Section 35
38 3D Domain(Bakker 2002) 36
39 Meshing for Air Capillary 38
310 Meshing for Water Capillary 38
311 Meshing for Multiphase Capillary 39
312 Steps Involved in Solver Setting 39
41 Contours of Volume Fraction (Air) for Simulation 3 44
42 Overall Figure for Simulation 3 45
x
43 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 3 46
44 Overall Figure for Simulation 4 47
45 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 4 48
46 Overall Figure for Simulation 5 49
47 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 5 50
48 Overall Figure for Simulation 6 51
49 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 6 52
410 Overall Figure for Simulation 7 53
411 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 7 54
412 Annular Flow (taken from Saisom and Wongwises 2011) 55
413 Annular Flow (Simulation 7) 55
xi
J
0
LIST OF SYMBOLS
D Diameter
jo Superficial velocity for gas
JL Superficial velocity for liquid
p Secondary phase
q Primary phase
Qo Volumetric flowrate for gas
QL Volumetric flowrate for liquid
Re Reynolds
St Stokes
va vp Velocity of gas
VL Vq Velocity of liquid
vqp Slip velocity
Degree
degc Degree Celsius
y Surface tension
(4) Velocity ratio
a Void fraction
xii
-----
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
3D 3-Dimensional
CFD Computational Fluid Dynamic
CMC Carboxymethyl Cellulose
SDS Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate
VOF Volume of Fluid
xiii
LIST OF NOMENCLATURE
abn Atmosphere
cm Centimeter
dynecm Dyne per centimeter
glcm3 Gram per cubic meter
JkgmiddotK Joule per kilogram kelvin
kglmmiddots Kilogram per meter second
kglm3 Kilogram per cubic meter
mm Millimeter
mls Meter per second
mls2 Meter per square second
Nm Newton per meter
WmmiddotK Watts per meter kelvin
J1 Micron
J1m Micrometer
xiv
CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION
11 Multiphase Flow
A phase may refer to states of matter which include solid liquid and vapor
(Crowe and Michaelides 2006) Then a multiphase flow can be defined as the
simultaneous flow of a mixture of different states or phases such as gas-liquid gasshy
solid liquid-solid or gas-liquid-solid Multiphase flow specifically two-phase flows
are found in wide range of industrial applications which comprise power generation
hydrocarbon recovery and processing food manufacturing as well as in most aspects
of chemical engineering such as distillation absorption evaporation condensation
and many others As for the extraction and transportation of crude oil from the
reservoir up to the surface it involves various phases that are gas oil water and
solids Even more complex cases have been facing the industry as the formations of
hydrates and wax frequently occur in the production line
As mentioned previously there are several combinations of multi phase flows
For each combination that flows in a given channel various form of interfacial
distributions that are also called as flow patterns are observed Out of the four types
of flow that have been listed gas-liquid flow is identified as the most complex flow
due to the combination of characteristics that involve deformable interface and the
compressibility of one of the phases (Ghajar 2005 Rahman Heidrick and Fleck
Chapter 1 Introduction
2009) Besides classification of multiphase flow is not as simple as single-phase
flow since there is several other factors need to be considered in a multi scale
structured flow such as pressure drop geometry of the channel heat flux surface
tension and several others In single-phase flow the indication of flow characteristic
is basically based on the information that includes the type of flow which is either
laminar or turbulent as well as the existence of flow separation or secondary flows
In this paper an overvIew of gas-liquid flow in a circular cross section
microchannel is given Liquid and gas are mixed in the mixing chamber and entered
the multi phase micro-capillary hence produced several significance flow patterns
The flow morphologies of mixtures made of water and air produced at the
micrometer scale flowing in a channel of circular cross section are then studied
111 Dispersed Phase and Separated Flows
According to Corradini (1998) there are two basic types of flow patterns that
have been identified which are dispersed and stratified Dispersed flow is a type of
flow in where one phase which is in the form of discrete element is dispersed or
distributed in the other continuous phase (Patel 2010) The discrete element may be
in the form of finite particles drops or bubbles There are few examples of flow that
can be used to explain dispersed phase As in the cases for gas-solid and liquid-solid
flows the discrete elements are always in the solid phase since solid particles are not
connected with each other Meanwhile the dispersed phase in gas-liquid flow is
primarily affected by the flow rates of both phases involved For instance bubbly
flow pattern is obtained as the flow rate of the gas is significantly lower than the
liquid flow rate In addition the shape or size of the dispersed phase is governed by
2
Chapter 1 Introduction
everal factors that include balance of buoyancy inertial and surface tension forces
(Corradini 1998)
Meanwhile stratified flow is a type of flow in where the two phases involved
are separated by a distinct line of contact (Patel 2010) In contrast with bubbly flow
greater flow rate of gas phase has resulted in vertical annular flow pattern in where
there is a liquid layer along the pipe wall alongside a gaseous inner core In other
words as for the cases of horizontal and vertical flows the two different streams are
separated from each other yet travel along in the same medium due to the density and
mass flowrate differences respectively (Corradini 1998)
112 Gas-Liquid Flow
Gas-liquid flow is characterized with the flow of two phases in which one of
the phases is in gaseous form while the other is in liquid form This combination of
flows in pipes has resulted in various configurations or flow patterns ranging from
bubbly flow to annular flow There are several industries that utilize the application
of gas-liquid flow which include bubble columns the generation of small droplets
for combustion in power generation system as well as the formation of droplet for
spray forming especially in materials processing
113 Gas-Solid Flow
Flow of gas phase together with suspended solid particles best described gasshy
solid flow This type of flow has been widely used to many industrial applications
which include pneumatic transport pollution control and so on For pneumatic
3
Chapter 1 Introduction
transport it is the main method of transporting solid materials According to (Crowe
2011) in vertical up-flow orientation the velocity of the gas has to be greater than
the settling velocity of the particles in order to maintain the transport
114 Liquid-Solid Flow
Liquid-solid flow involves the flow of solid particles that are carried via the
liquid phase This type of flow can be classified under dispersed phase flow due to
the dispersion of solid particles within the continuous liquid phase The discrete
elements are conveyed through the channel by the drag and pressure forces exerted
by the liquid phase (Weber 2010) The distribution of solid particles in the flow is
dependent on several factors which involve the properties of solid and carrier liquid
parameters of the channel flow direction and many others Liquid-solid fluidization
sedimentation and filtration are some typical examples of liquid-solid flow Those
mentioned applications are mostly used in the industry for the purpose of separation
115 Three-Phase Flows
Other than gas-liquid gas-solid and liquid-solid flows three-phase flow is
another example of multi phase flows that is encountered in engineering applications
An example for three-phase flow is the occurrence of bubbles in slurry which in
returns have produced three-phase flows flowing together There are not much
literature or related materials on this type of flow yet this flow is identified to be
interesting branch of study for multiphase flows
4
Pusat Khidmat MaldumatAkademil Chapter 1 Ul1lElSm tAJAVSIA SARAWA Introduction
12 Industrial Application Involving Multiphase Flow
As mentioned earlier multiphase fluid flows can be found in various
industrial processes or applications One of the most common examples is the
application of bubble column Bubble column device is where gas that is in the form
of bubbles come in contact with liquid with the main objective which is to mix the
liquid phase (Zehner and Kraume 2005) This device is commonly used as
multiphase contactors and reactors especially in chemical biochemical and
petrochemical industries since they offer several benefits during operation and
maintenance which include high heat and mass transfer rates compactness as well
as low operating and maintenance cost (Kantarci Borak and Ulgen 2004)
In bubble column the liquid may flow in either two ways which are coshy
current or counter-current to the gas flow direction An example of the simplest
bubble column is the one that consists of a vertical tube with no internals or in other
words the column is installed without any trays packings or shafts Besides for
simplest design of bubble column the gas is fed into the column at the bottom pass
through the liquid and later escaping from the upper surface If the released gas
contains high concentration of valuable reactants recycle design can be
implemented To date the simplest form of bubble column is rarely used since
numerous types of modifications are employed in order to achieve more efficient
design system
According to Kantarci et al (2004) there are three types of flow regimes that
are commonly found in bubbles columns that are bubbly flow churn-turbulent flow
and slug flow regime These flow regimes are determined according to the
superficial gas velocity applied in the column Based on the literature written by
5
Chapter 1 Introduction
previous authors bubbly flow regime is obtained at low superficial gas velocities
meanwhile churn-turbulent regime started to develop at higher superficial gas
velocities For slug flow regime it has been only conducted and observed in a smallshy
scale diameter laboratory columns at high gas flow rates (Hyndman and Larachi
1997)
13 Microchannel
Microchannel can be defined as channel with dimension that is less than 1
mm and greater than I micron (~) (Sharp et aI 2005) For other dimensions that are
above 1 mm the behaviors of the flow are observed to be the same as most
macroscopic flows Microchannel has gradually received attention due to the several
benefits offered which include high surface to volume ratio high throughput in
parallel processing reduction in the volume of sample required and many others
Greater surface to volume ratio has resulted in high rate of heat and mass transfer or
in other words enhance the heat transfer rates (Kandlikar 2012 Qian and Lawai
2006) In returns micro device has become an excellent and preferable tool for heat
exchanger
As the dimension scale is reduced to micrometric scale surface to volume
ratio has become significantly important Surface tension as well as viscous force has
dominated the system as compared to gravitational force (Ahmed-Orner and Wirth
2008) In other words the flow regimes observed for two-phase flows in
microchannel are different from the regimes mapped in larger channels (Ventakesan
et aI 2010) Surface tension is originated from the intermolecular forces in which
this forces are generally negligible at macrometric scale (Bayraktar and Pidugu
6
Pusat Khidmat Maklumat Akademi iJ [ VERSm MALAYSIA SA vA
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
TITLE PAGE
DEDICATION II
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Xlll
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT III
ABSTRACT IV
ABSTRAK V
TABLE OF CONTENTS VI
LIST OF TABLES IX
LIST OF FIGURES X
LIST OF SYMBOLS XII
LIST OF NOMENCLATURE XIV
Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION
11 Multiphase Flow
111 Dispersed Phase and Separated Flows 2
112 Gas-Liquid Flow 3
113 Gas-Solid Flow 3
114 Liquid-Solid Flow 4
11 5 Three-Phase Flows 4
12 Industrial Application Involving Multiphase Flow 5
13 Microchannel 6
14 Overview of Flow Pattern 7
15 Problem Statement 9
16 Objectives and Scopes of Study 9
17 Additional Information of Report 10
vi
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
LITERA TURE REVIEW
21 Materials and Fabrication Technique 11
211 Machining 12
22 Dimensionless Number and Forces Dominate in Microchannel 12
221 Surface Tension 14
23 Two-phase Gas-Liquid Flow 15
24 Mixing in Microchannel 19
25 Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) 22
251 Volume of Fluid (VOF) Model 23
252 Mixture Model 24
253 Eulerian Model 24
26 Flow Patterns in Vertical Upflow 25
METHODOLOGY
31 Introduction 28
32 Objective 29
33 Phase One 29
331 Literature Review 30
332 Design Criteria 30
333 Experimental Setup 31
34 Phase Two 32
341 Experimental Design 33
342 Identify the Domain 34
343 Create a Solid Model of the Domain 35
344 Design and Create the Mesh 36
345 Set Up the Solver 39
346 Compute the Solution 41
347 Examine the Result 42
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
41 Introduction 43
411 Simulation 3 44
412 Simulation 4 47
413 Simulation 5 49
414 Simulation 6 51
vii
415 Simulation 7
42 Discussion
Chapter 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
51 Conclusions
52 Recommendations
REFERENCES
APPENDIX
viii
53
55
57
58
59
68
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
I
20 Density and Surface Tension of Water Against Air at Various 14
Temperatures (Weast and Astle 1982)
30 Dimensions of Capillaries 35
31 Determination of Cell Quality 37
32 Details of Mesh 37
33 Material Properties 40
34 Problem Setup 40
40 Result for the Simulation 43
ix
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
21 Flow Regimes Map (Saisorn and Wongwises 2011) 16
Two-phase Flow Regimes Map for a 100 Jlm Microchannel 22 18
(Kawahara et aI 2002)
23 T - junctions
T - junction with gas and liquid inlet perpendicular to the 23a 20
main channel
T- junction with either gas or liquid inlet is in the direction 23b 20
of the main channel
24 y- junction 21
25 Cross- junction 21
26 Flow- focusing 21
27 Flow Patterns in Vertical Upflow (Azzopardi nd) 26
Steps Involved in Developing the Methodologies for the Design 31 28
Project
32 Subjects Reviewed in Literature Review 30
33 Steps Involved in Determining the Design Criteria 31
34 Steps Involved in Preparation of Complete Experimental Facility 32
35 Adjusted Design of the Microchannel 34
36 Final Design for the Microchannel 34
37 Overall Test Section 35
38 3D Domain(Bakker 2002) 36
39 Meshing for Air Capillary 38
310 Meshing for Water Capillary 38
311 Meshing for Multiphase Capillary 39
312 Steps Involved in Solver Setting 39
41 Contours of Volume Fraction (Air) for Simulation 3 44
42 Overall Figure for Simulation 3 45
x
43 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 3 46
44 Overall Figure for Simulation 4 47
45 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 4 48
46 Overall Figure for Simulation 5 49
47 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 5 50
48 Overall Figure for Simulation 6 51
49 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 6 52
410 Overall Figure for Simulation 7 53
411 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 7 54
412 Annular Flow (taken from Saisom and Wongwises 2011) 55
413 Annular Flow (Simulation 7) 55
xi
J
0
LIST OF SYMBOLS
D Diameter
jo Superficial velocity for gas
JL Superficial velocity for liquid
p Secondary phase
q Primary phase
Qo Volumetric flowrate for gas
QL Volumetric flowrate for liquid
Re Reynolds
St Stokes
va vp Velocity of gas
VL Vq Velocity of liquid
vqp Slip velocity
Degree
degc Degree Celsius
y Surface tension
(4) Velocity ratio
a Void fraction
xii
-----
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
3D 3-Dimensional
CFD Computational Fluid Dynamic
CMC Carboxymethyl Cellulose
SDS Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate
VOF Volume of Fluid
xiii
LIST OF NOMENCLATURE
abn Atmosphere
cm Centimeter
dynecm Dyne per centimeter
glcm3 Gram per cubic meter
JkgmiddotK Joule per kilogram kelvin
kglmmiddots Kilogram per meter second
kglm3 Kilogram per cubic meter
mm Millimeter
mls Meter per second
mls2 Meter per square second
Nm Newton per meter
WmmiddotK Watts per meter kelvin
J1 Micron
J1m Micrometer
xiv
CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION
11 Multiphase Flow
A phase may refer to states of matter which include solid liquid and vapor
(Crowe and Michaelides 2006) Then a multiphase flow can be defined as the
simultaneous flow of a mixture of different states or phases such as gas-liquid gasshy
solid liquid-solid or gas-liquid-solid Multiphase flow specifically two-phase flows
are found in wide range of industrial applications which comprise power generation
hydrocarbon recovery and processing food manufacturing as well as in most aspects
of chemical engineering such as distillation absorption evaporation condensation
and many others As for the extraction and transportation of crude oil from the
reservoir up to the surface it involves various phases that are gas oil water and
solids Even more complex cases have been facing the industry as the formations of
hydrates and wax frequently occur in the production line
As mentioned previously there are several combinations of multi phase flows
For each combination that flows in a given channel various form of interfacial
distributions that are also called as flow patterns are observed Out of the four types
of flow that have been listed gas-liquid flow is identified as the most complex flow
due to the combination of characteristics that involve deformable interface and the
compressibility of one of the phases (Ghajar 2005 Rahman Heidrick and Fleck
Chapter 1 Introduction
2009) Besides classification of multiphase flow is not as simple as single-phase
flow since there is several other factors need to be considered in a multi scale
structured flow such as pressure drop geometry of the channel heat flux surface
tension and several others In single-phase flow the indication of flow characteristic
is basically based on the information that includes the type of flow which is either
laminar or turbulent as well as the existence of flow separation or secondary flows
In this paper an overvIew of gas-liquid flow in a circular cross section
microchannel is given Liquid and gas are mixed in the mixing chamber and entered
the multi phase micro-capillary hence produced several significance flow patterns
The flow morphologies of mixtures made of water and air produced at the
micrometer scale flowing in a channel of circular cross section are then studied
111 Dispersed Phase and Separated Flows
According to Corradini (1998) there are two basic types of flow patterns that
have been identified which are dispersed and stratified Dispersed flow is a type of
flow in where one phase which is in the form of discrete element is dispersed or
distributed in the other continuous phase (Patel 2010) The discrete element may be
in the form of finite particles drops or bubbles There are few examples of flow that
can be used to explain dispersed phase As in the cases for gas-solid and liquid-solid
flows the discrete elements are always in the solid phase since solid particles are not
connected with each other Meanwhile the dispersed phase in gas-liquid flow is
primarily affected by the flow rates of both phases involved For instance bubbly
flow pattern is obtained as the flow rate of the gas is significantly lower than the
liquid flow rate In addition the shape or size of the dispersed phase is governed by
2
Chapter 1 Introduction
everal factors that include balance of buoyancy inertial and surface tension forces
(Corradini 1998)
Meanwhile stratified flow is a type of flow in where the two phases involved
are separated by a distinct line of contact (Patel 2010) In contrast with bubbly flow
greater flow rate of gas phase has resulted in vertical annular flow pattern in where
there is a liquid layer along the pipe wall alongside a gaseous inner core In other
words as for the cases of horizontal and vertical flows the two different streams are
separated from each other yet travel along in the same medium due to the density and
mass flowrate differences respectively (Corradini 1998)
112 Gas-Liquid Flow
Gas-liquid flow is characterized with the flow of two phases in which one of
the phases is in gaseous form while the other is in liquid form This combination of
flows in pipes has resulted in various configurations or flow patterns ranging from
bubbly flow to annular flow There are several industries that utilize the application
of gas-liquid flow which include bubble columns the generation of small droplets
for combustion in power generation system as well as the formation of droplet for
spray forming especially in materials processing
113 Gas-Solid Flow
Flow of gas phase together with suspended solid particles best described gasshy
solid flow This type of flow has been widely used to many industrial applications
which include pneumatic transport pollution control and so on For pneumatic
3
Chapter 1 Introduction
transport it is the main method of transporting solid materials According to (Crowe
2011) in vertical up-flow orientation the velocity of the gas has to be greater than
the settling velocity of the particles in order to maintain the transport
114 Liquid-Solid Flow
Liquid-solid flow involves the flow of solid particles that are carried via the
liquid phase This type of flow can be classified under dispersed phase flow due to
the dispersion of solid particles within the continuous liquid phase The discrete
elements are conveyed through the channel by the drag and pressure forces exerted
by the liquid phase (Weber 2010) The distribution of solid particles in the flow is
dependent on several factors which involve the properties of solid and carrier liquid
parameters of the channel flow direction and many others Liquid-solid fluidization
sedimentation and filtration are some typical examples of liquid-solid flow Those
mentioned applications are mostly used in the industry for the purpose of separation
115 Three-Phase Flows
Other than gas-liquid gas-solid and liquid-solid flows three-phase flow is
another example of multi phase flows that is encountered in engineering applications
An example for three-phase flow is the occurrence of bubbles in slurry which in
returns have produced three-phase flows flowing together There are not much
literature or related materials on this type of flow yet this flow is identified to be
interesting branch of study for multiphase flows
4
Pusat Khidmat MaldumatAkademil Chapter 1 Ul1lElSm tAJAVSIA SARAWA Introduction
12 Industrial Application Involving Multiphase Flow
As mentioned earlier multiphase fluid flows can be found in various
industrial processes or applications One of the most common examples is the
application of bubble column Bubble column device is where gas that is in the form
of bubbles come in contact with liquid with the main objective which is to mix the
liquid phase (Zehner and Kraume 2005) This device is commonly used as
multiphase contactors and reactors especially in chemical biochemical and
petrochemical industries since they offer several benefits during operation and
maintenance which include high heat and mass transfer rates compactness as well
as low operating and maintenance cost (Kantarci Borak and Ulgen 2004)
In bubble column the liquid may flow in either two ways which are coshy
current or counter-current to the gas flow direction An example of the simplest
bubble column is the one that consists of a vertical tube with no internals or in other
words the column is installed without any trays packings or shafts Besides for
simplest design of bubble column the gas is fed into the column at the bottom pass
through the liquid and later escaping from the upper surface If the released gas
contains high concentration of valuable reactants recycle design can be
implemented To date the simplest form of bubble column is rarely used since
numerous types of modifications are employed in order to achieve more efficient
design system
According to Kantarci et al (2004) there are three types of flow regimes that
are commonly found in bubbles columns that are bubbly flow churn-turbulent flow
and slug flow regime These flow regimes are determined according to the
superficial gas velocity applied in the column Based on the literature written by
5
Chapter 1 Introduction
previous authors bubbly flow regime is obtained at low superficial gas velocities
meanwhile churn-turbulent regime started to develop at higher superficial gas
velocities For slug flow regime it has been only conducted and observed in a smallshy
scale diameter laboratory columns at high gas flow rates (Hyndman and Larachi
1997)
13 Microchannel
Microchannel can be defined as channel with dimension that is less than 1
mm and greater than I micron (~) (Sharp et aI 2005) For other dimensions that are
above 1 mm the behaviors of the flow are observed to be the same as most
macroscopic flows Microchannel has gradually received attention due to the several
benefits offered which include high surface to volume ratio high throughput in
parallel processing reduction in the volume of sample required and many others
Greater surface to volume ratio has resulted in high rate of heat and mass transfer or
in other words enhance the heat transfer rates (Kandlikar 2012 Qian and Lawai
2006) In returns micro device has become an excellent and preferable tool for heat
exchanger
As the dimension scale is reduced to micrometric scale surface to volume
ratio has become significantly important Surface tension as well as viscous force has
dominated the system as compared to gravitational force (Ahmed-Orner and Wirth
2008) In other words the flow regimes observed for two-phase flows in
microchannel are different from the regimes mapped in larger channels (Ventakesan
et aI 2010) Surface tension is originated from the intermolecular forces in which
this forces are generally negligible at macrometric scale (Bayraktar and Pidugu
6
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
LITERA TURE REVIEW
21 Materials and Fabrication Technique 11
211 Machining 12
22 Dimensionless Number and Forces Dominate in Microchannel 12
221 Surface Tension 14
23 Two-phase Gas-Liquid Flow 15
24 Mixing in Microchannel 19
25 Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) 22
251 Volume of Fluid (VOF) Model 23
252 Mixture Model 24
253 Eulerian Model 24
26 Flow Patterns in Vertical Upflow 25
METHODOLOGY
31 Introduction 28
32 Objective 29
33 Phase One 29
331 Literature Review 30
332 Design Criteria 30
333 Experimental Setup 31
34 Phase Two 32
341 Experimental Design 33
342 Identify the Domain 34
343 Create a Solid Model of the Domain 35
344 Design and Create the Mesh 36
345 Set Up the Solver 39
346 Compute the Solution 41
347 Examine the Result 42
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
41 Introduction 43
411 Simulation 3 44
412 Simulation 4 47
413 Simulation 5 49
414 Simulation 6 51
vii
415 Simulation 7
42 Discussion
Chapter 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
51 Conclusions
52 Recommendations
REFERENCES
APPENDIX
viii
53
55
57
58
59
68
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
I
20 Density and Surface Tension of Water Against Air at Various 14
Temperatures (Weast and Astle 1982)
30 Dimensions of Capillaries 35
31 Determination of Cell Quality 37
32 Details of Mesh 37
33 Material Properties 40
34 Problem Setup 40
40 Result for the Simulation 43
ix
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
21 Flow Regimes Map (Saisorn and Wongwises 2011) 16
Two-phase Flow Regimes Map for a 100 Jlm Microchannel 22 18
(Kawahara et aI 2002)
23 T - junctions
T - junction with gas and liquid inlet perpendicular to the 23a 20
main channel
T- junction with either gas or liquid inlet is in the direction 23b 20
of the main channel
24 y- junction 21
25 Cross- junction 21
26 Flow- focusing 21
27 Flow Patterns in Vertical Upflow (Azzopardi nd) 26
Steps Involved in Developing the Methodologies for the Design 31 28
Project
32 Subjects Reviewed in Literature Review 30
33 Steps Involved in Determining the Design Criteria 31
34 Steps Involved in Preparation of Complete Experimental Facility 32
35 Adjusted Design of the Microchannel 34
36 Final Design for the Microchannel 34
37 Overall Test Section 35
38 3D Domain(Bakker 2002) 36
39 Meshing for Air Capillary 38
310 Meshing for Water Capillary 38
311 Meshing for Multiphase Capillary 39
312 Steps Involved in Solver Setting 39
41 Contours of Volume Fraction (Air) for Simulation 3 44
42 Overall Figure for Simulation 3 45
x
43 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 3 46
44 Overall Figure for Simulation 4 47
45 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 4 48
46 Overall Figure for Simulation 5 49
47 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 5 50
48 Overall Figure for Simulation 6 51
49 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 6 52
410 Overall Figure for Simulation 7 53
411 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 7 54
412 Annular Flow (taken from Saisom and Wongwises 2011) 55
413 Annular Flow (Simulation 7) 55
xi
J
0
LIST OF SYMBOLS
D Diameter
jo Superficial velocity for gas
JL Superficial velocity for liquid
p Secondary phase
q Primary phase
Qo Volumetric flowrate for gas
QL Volumetric flowrate for liquid
Re Reynolds
St Stokes
va vp Velocity of gas
VL Vq Velocity of liquid
vqp Slip velocity
Degree
degc Degree Celsius
y Surface tension
(4) Velocity ratio
a Void fraction
xii
-----
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
3D 3-Dimensional
CFD Computational Fluid Dynamic
CMC Carboxymethyl Cellulose
SDS Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate
VOF Volume of Fluid
xiii
LIST OF NOMENCLATURE
abn Atmosphere
cm Centimeter
dynecm Dyne per centimeter
glcm3 Gram per cubic meter
JkgmiddotK Joule per kilogram kelvin
kglmmiddots Kilogram per meter second
kglm3 Kilogram per cubic meter
mm Millimeter
mls Meter per second
mls2 Meter per square second
Nm Newton per meter
WmmiddotK Watts per meter kelvin
J1 Micron
J1m Micrometer
xiv
CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION
11 Multiphase Flow
A phase may refer to states of matter which include solid liquid and vapor
(Crowe and Michaelides 2006) Then a multiphase flow can be defined as the
simultaneous flow of a mixture of different states or phases such as gas-liquid gasshy
solid liquid-solid or gas-liquid-solid Multiphase flow specifically two-phase flows
are found in wide range of industrial applications which comprise power generation
hydrocarbon recovery and processing food manufacturing as well as in most aspects
of chemical engineering such as distillation absorption evaporation condensation
and many others As for the extraction and transportation of crude oil from the
reservoir up to the surface it involves various phases that are gas oil water and
solids Even more complex cases have been facing the industry as the formations of
hydrates and wax frequently occur in the production line
As mentioned previously there are several combinations of multi phase flows
For each combination that flows in a given channel various form of interfacial
distributions that are also called as flow patterns are observed Out of the four types
of flow that have been listed gas-liquid flow is identified as the most complex flow
due to the combination of characteristics that involve deformable interface and the
compressibility of one of the phases (Ghajar 2005 Rahman Heidrick and Fleck
Chapter 1 Introduction
2009) Besides classification of multiphase flow is not as simple as single-phase
flow since there is several other factors need to be considered in a multi scale
structured flow such as pressure drop geometry of the channel heat flux surface
tension and several others In single-phase flow the indication of flow characteristic
is basically based on the information that includes the type of flow which is either
laminar or turbulent as well as the existence of flow separation or secondary flows
In this paper an overvIew of gas-liquid flow in a circular cross section
microchannel is given Liquid and gas are mixed in the mixing chamber and entered
the multi phase micro-capillary hence produced several significance flow patterns
The flow morphologies of mixtures made of water and air produced at the
micrometer scale flowing in a channel of circular cross section are then studied
111 Dispersed Phase and Separated Flows
According to Corradini (1998) there are two basic types of flow patterns that
have been identified which are dispersed and stratified Dispersed flow is a type of
flow in where one phase which is in the form of discrete element is dispersed or
distributed in the other continuous phase (Patel 2010) The discrete element may be
in the form of finite particles drops or bubbles There are few examples of flow that
can be used to explain dispersed phase As in the cases for gas-solid and liquid-solid
flows the discrete elements are always in the solid phase since solid particles are not
connected with each other Meanwhile the dispersed phase in gas-liquid flow is
primarily affected by the flow rates of both phases involved For instance bubbly
flow pattern is obtained as the flow rate of the gas is significantly lower than the
liquid flow rate In addition the shape or size of the dispersed phase is governed by
2
Chapter 1 Introduction
everal factors that include balance of buoyancy inertial and surface tension forces
(Corradini 1998)
Meanwhile stratified flow is a type of flow in where the two phases involved
are separated by a distinct line of contact (Patel 2010) In contrast with bubbly flow
greater flow rate of gas phase has resulted in vertical annular flow pattern in where
there is a liquid layer along the pipe wall alongside a gaseous inner core In other
words as for the cases of horizontal and vertical flows the two different streams are
separated from each other yet travel along in the same medium due to the density and
mass flowrate differences respectively (Corradini 1998)
112 Gas-Liquid Flow
Gas-liquid flow is characterized with the flow of two phases in which one of
the phases is in gaseous form while the other is in liquid form This combination of
flows in pipes has resulted in various configurations or flow patterns ranging from
bubbly flow to annular flow There are several industries that utilize the application
of gas-liquid flow which include bubble columns the generation of small droplets
for combustion in power generation system as well as the formation of droplet for
spray forming especially in materials processing
113 Gas-Solid Flow
Flow of gas phase together with suspended solid particles best described gasshy
solid flow This type of flow has been widely used to many industrial applications
which include pneumatic transport pollution control and so on For pneumatic
3
Chapter 1 Introduction
transport it is the main method of transporting solid materials According to (Crowe
2011) in vertical up-flow orientation the velocity of the gas has to be greater than
the settling velocity of the particles in order to maintain the transport
114 Liquid-Solid Flow
Liquid-solid flow involves the flow of solid particles that are carried via the
liquid phase This type of flow can be classified under dispersed phase flow due to
the dispersion of solid particles within the continuous liquid phase The discrete
elements are conveyed through the channel by the drag and pressure forces exerted
by the liquid phase (Weber 2010) The distribution of solid particles in the flow is
dependent on several factors which involve the properties of solid and carrier liquid
parameters of the channel flow direction and many others Liquid-solid fluidization
sedimentation and filtration are some typical examples of liquid-solid flow Those
mentioned applications are mostly used in the industry for the purpose of separation
115 Three-Phase Flows
Other than gas-liquid gas-solid and liquid-solid flows three-phase flow is
another example of multi phase flows that is encountered in engineering applications
An example for three-phase flow is the occurrence of bubbles in slurry which in
returns have produced three-phase flows flowing together There are not much
literature or related materials on this type of flow yet this flow is identified to be
interesting branch of study for multiphase flows
4
Pusat Khidmat MaldumatAkademil Chapter 1 Ul1lElSm tAJAVSIA SARAWA Introduction
12 Industrial Application Involving Multiphase Flow
As mentioned earlier multiphase fluid flows can be found in various
industrial processes or applications One of the most common examples is the
application of bubble column Bubble column device is where gas that is in the form
of bubbles come in contact with liquid with the main objective which is to mix the
liquid phase (Zehner and Kraume 2005) This device is commonly used as
multiphase contactors and reactors especially in chemical biochemical and
petrochemical industries since they offer several benefits during operation and
maintenance which include high heat and mass transfer rates compactness as well
as low operating and maintenance cost (Kantarci Borak and Ulgen 2004)
In bubble column the liquid may flow in either two ways which are coshy
current or counter-current to the gas flow direction An example of the simplest
bubble column is the one that consists of a vertical tube with no internals or in other
words the column is installed without any trays packings or shafts Besides for
simplest design of bubble column the gas is fed into the column at the bottom pass
through the liquid and later escaping from the upper surface If the released gas
contains high concentration of valuable reactants recycle design can be
implemented To date the simplest form of bubble column is rarely used since
numerous types of modifications are employed in order to achieve more efficient
design system
According to Kantarci et al (2004) there are three types of flow regimes that
are commonly found in bubbles columns that are bubbly flow churn-turbulent flow
and slug flow regime These flow regimes are determined according to the
superficial gas velocity applied in the column Based on the literature written by
5
Chapter 1 Introduction
previous authors bubbly flow regime is obtained at low superficial gas velocities
meanwhile churn-turbulent regime started to develop at higher superficial gas
velocities For slug flow regime it has been only conducted and observed in a smallshy
scale diameter laboratory columns at high gas flow rates (Hyndman and Larachi
1997)
13 Microchannel
Microchannel can be defined as channel with dimension that is less than 1
mm and greater than I micron (~) (Sharp et aI 2005) For other dimensions that are
above 1 mm the behaviors of the flow are observed to be the same as most
macroscopic flows Microchannel has gradually received attention due to the several
benefits offered which include high surface to volume ratio high throughput in
parallel processing reduction in the volume of sample required and many others
Greater surface to volume ratio has resulted in high rate of heat and mass transfer or
in other words enhance the heat transfer rates (Kandlikar 2012 Qian and Lawai
2006) In returns micro device has become an excellent and preferable tool for heat
exchanger
As the dimension scale is reduced to micrometric scale surface to volume
ratio has become significantly important Surface tension as well as viscous force has
dominated the system as compared to gravitational force (Ahmed-Orner and Wirth
2008) In other words the flow regimes observed for two-phase flows in
microchannel are different from the regimes mapped in larger channels (Ventakesan
et aI 2010) Surface tension is originated from the intermolecular forces in which
this forces are generally negligible at macrometric scale (Bayraktar and Pidugu
6
415 Simulation 7
42 Discussion
Chapter 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
51 Conclusions
52 Recommendations
REFERENCES
APPENDIX
viii
53
55
57
58
59
68
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
I
20 Density and Surface Tension of Water Against Air at Various 14
Temperatures (Weast and Astle 1982)
30 Dimensions of Capillaries 35
31 Determination of Cell Quality 37
32 Details of Mesh 37
33 Material Properties 40
34 Problem Setup 40
40 Result for the Simulation 43
ix
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
21 Flow Regimes Map (Saisorn and Wongwises 2011) 16
Two-phase Flow Regimes Map for a 100 Jlm Microchannel 22 18
(Kawahara et aI 2002)
23 T - junctions
T - junction with gas and liquid inlet perpendicular to the 23a 20
main channel
T- junction with either gas or liquid inlet is in the direction 23b 20
of the main channel
24 y- junction 21
25 Cross- junction 21
26 Flow- focusing 21
27 Flow Patterns in Vertical Upflow (Azzopardi nd) 26
Steps Involved in Developing the Methodologies for the Design 31 28
Project
32 Subjects Reviewed in Literature Review 30
33 Steps Involved in Determining the Design Criteria 31
34 Steps Involved in Preparation of Complete Experimental Facility 32
35 Adjusted Design of the Microchannel 34
36 Final Design for the Microchannel 34
37 Overall Test Section 35
38 3D Domain(Bakker 2002) 36
39 Meshing for Air Capillary 38
310 Meshing for Water Capillary 38
311 Meshing for Multiphase Capillary 39
312 Steps Involved in Solver Setting 39
41 Contours of Volume Fraction (Air) for Simulation 3 44
42 Overall Figure for Simulation 3 45
x
43 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 3 46
44 Overall Figure for Simulation 4 47
45 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 4 48
46 Overall Figure for Simulation 5 49
47 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 5 50
48 Overall Figure for Simulation 6 51
49 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 6 52
410 Overall Figure for Simulation 7 53
411 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 7 54
412 Annular Flow (taken from Saisom and Wongwises 2011) 55
413 Annular Flow (Simulation 7) 55
xi
J
0
LIST OF SYMBOLS
D Diameter
jo Superficial velocity for gas
JL Superficial velocity for liquid
p Secondary phase
q Primary phase
Qo Volumetric flowrate for gas
QL Volumetric flowrate for liquid
Re Reynolds
St Stokes
va vp Velocity of gas
VL Vq Velocity of liquid
vqp Slip velocity
Degree
degc Degree Celsius
y Surface tension
(4) Velocity ratio
a Void fraction
xii
-----
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
3D 3-Dimensional
CFD Computational Fluid Dynamic
CMC Carboxymethyl Cellulose
SDS Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate
VOF Volume of Fluid
xiii
LIST OF NOMENCLATURE
abn Atmosphere
cm Centimeter
dynecm Dyne per centimeter
glcm3 Gram per cubic meter
JkgmiddotK Joule per kilogram kelvin
kglmmiddots Kilogram per meter second
kglm3 Kilogram per cubic meter
mm Millimeter
mls Meter per second
mls2 Meter per square second
Nm Newton per meter
WmmiddotK Watts per meter kelvin
J1 Micron
J1m Micrometer
xiv
CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION
11 Multiphase Flow
A phase may refer to states of matter which include solid liquid and vapor
(Crowe and Michaelides 2006) Then a multiphase flow can be defined as the
simultaneous flow of a mixture of different states or phases such as gas-liquid gasshy
solid liquid-solid or gas-liquid-solid Multiphase flow specifically two-phase flows
are found in wide range of industrial applications which comprise power generation
hydrocarbon recovery and processing food manufacturing as well as in most aspects
of chemical engineering such as distillation absorption evaporation condensation
and many others As for the extraction and transportation of crude oil from the
reservoir up to the surface it involves various phases that are gas oil water and
solids Even more complex cases have been facing the industry as the formations of
hydrates and wax frequently occur in the production line
As mentioned previously there are several combinations of multi phase flows
For each combination that flows in a given channel various form of interfacial
distributions that are also called as flow patterns are observed Out of the four types
of flow that have been listed gas-liquid flow is identified as the most complex flow
due to the combination of characteristics that involve deformable interface and the
compressibility of one of the phases (Ghajar 2005 Rahman Heidrick and Fleck
Chapter 1 Introduction
2009) Besides classification of multiphase flow is not as simple as single-phase
flow since there is several other factors need to be considered in a multi scale
structured flow such as pressure drop geometry of the channel heat flux surface
tension and several others In single-phase flow the indication of flow characteristic
is basically based on the information that includes the type of flow which is either
laminar or turbulent as well as the existence of flow separation or secondary flows
In this paper an overvIew of gas-liquid flow in a circular cross section
microchannel is given Liquid and gas are mixed in the mixing chamber and entered
the multi phase micro-capillary hence produced several significance flow patterns
The flow morphologies of mixtures made of water and air produced at the
micrometer scale flowing in a channel of circular cross section are then studied
111 Dispersed Phase and Separated Flows
According to Corradini (1998) there are two basic types of flow patterns that
have been identified which are dispersed and stratified Dispersed flow is a type of
flow in where one phase which is in the form of discrete element is dispersed or
distributed in the other continuous phase (Patel 2010) The discrete element may be
in the form of finite particles drops or bubbles There are few examples of flow that
can be used to explain dispersed phase As in the cases for gas-solid and liquid-solid
flows the discrete elements are always in the solid phase since solid particles are not
connected with each other Meanwhile the dispersed phase in gas-liquid flow is
primarily affected by the flow rates of both phases involved For instance bubbly
flow pattern is obtained as the flow rate of the gas is significantly lower than the
liquid flow rate In addition the shape or size of the dispersed phase is governed by
2
Chapter 1 Introduction
everal factors that include balance of buoyancy inertial and surface tension forces
(Corradini 1998)
Meanwhile stratified flow is a type of flow in where the two phases involved
are separated by a distinct line of contact (Patel 2010) In contrast with bubbly flow
greater flow rate of gas phase has resulted in vertical annular flow pattern in where
there is a liquid layer along the pipe wall alongside a gaseous inner core In other
words as for the cases of horizontal and vertical flows the two different streams are
separated from each other yet travel along in the same medium due to the density and
mass flowrate differences respectively (Corradini 1998)
112 Gas-Liquid Flow
Gas-liquid flow is characterized with the flow of two phases in which one of
the phases is in gaseous form while the other is in liquid form This combination of
flows in pipes has resulted in various configurations or flow patterns ranging from
bubbly flow to annular flow There are several industries that utilize the application
of gas-liquid flow which include bubble columns the generation of small droplets
for combustion in power generation system as well as the formation of droplet for
spray forming especially in materials processing
113 Gas-Solid Flow
Flow of gas phase together with suspended solid particles best described gasshy
solid flow This type of flow has been widely used to many industrial applications
which include pneumatic transport pollution control and so on For pneumatic
3
Chapter 1 Introduction
transport it is the main method of transporting solid materials According to (Crowe
2011) in vertical up-flow orientation the velocity of the gas has to be greater than
the settling velocity of the particles in order to maintain the transport
114 Liquid-Solid Flow
Liquid-solid flow involves the flow of solid particles that are carried via the
liquid phase This type of flow can be classified under dispersed phase flow due to
the dispersion of solid particles within the continuous liquid phase The discrete
elements are conveyed through the channel by the drag and pressure forces exerted
by the liquid phase (Weber 2010) The distribution of solid particles in the flow is
dependent on several factors which involve the properties of solid and carrier liquid
parameters of the channel flow direction and many others Liquid-solid fluidization
sedimentation and filtration are some typical examples of liquid-solid flow Those
mentioned applications are mostly used in the industry for the purpose of separation
115 Three-Phase Flows
Other than gas-liquid gas-solid and liquid-solid flows three-phase flow is
another example of multi phase flows that is encountered in engineering applications
An example for three-phase flow is the occurrence of bubbles in slurry which in
returns have produced three-phase flows flowing together There are not much
literature or related materials on this type of flow yet this flow is identified to be
interesting branch of study for multiphase flows
4
Pusat Khidmat MaldumatAkademil Chapter 1 Ul1lElSm tAJAVSIA SARAWA Introduction
12 Industrial Application Involving Multiphase Flow
As mentioned earlier multiphase fluid flows can be found in various
industrial processes or applications One of the most common examples is the
application of bubble column Bubble column device is where gas that is in the form
of bubbles come in contact with liquid with the main objective which is to mix the
liquid phase (Zehner and Kraume 2005) This device is commonly used as
multiphase contactors and reactors especially in chemical biochemical and
petrochemical industries since they offer several benefits during operation and
maintenance which include high heat and mass transfer rates compactness as well
as low operating and maintenance cost (Kantarci Borak and Ulgen 2004)
In bubble column the liquid may flow in either two ways which are coshy
current or counter-current to the gas flow direction An example of the simplest
bubble column is the one that consists of a vertical tube with no internals or in other
words the column is installed without any trays packings or shafts Besides for
simplest design of bubble column the gas is fed into the column at the bottom pass
through the liquid and later escaping from the upper surface If the released gas
contains high concentration of valuable reactants recycle design can be
implemented To date the simplest form of bubble column is rarely used since
numerous types of modifications are employed in order to achieve more efficient
design system
According to Kantarci et al (2004) there are three types of flow regimes that
are commonly found in bubbles columns that are bubbly flow churn-turbulent flow
and slug flow regime These flow regimes are determined according to the
superficial gas velocity applied in the column Based on the literature written by
5
Chapter 1 Introduction
previous authors bubbly flow regime is obtained at low superficial gas velocities
meanwhile churn-turbulent regime started to develop at higher superficial gas
velocities For slug flow regime it has been only conducted and observed in a smallshy
scale diameter laboratory columns at high gas flow rates (Hyndman and Larachi
1997)
13 Microchannel
Microchannel can be defined as channel with dimension that is less than 1
mm and greater than I micron (~) (Sharp et aI 2005) For other dimensions that are
above 1 mm the behaviors of the flow are observed to be the same as most
macroscopic flows Microchannel has gradually received attention due to the several
benefits offered which include high surface to volume ratio high throughput in
parallel processing reduction in the volume of sample required and many others
Greater surface to volume ratio has resulted in high rate of heat and mass transfer or
in other words enhance the heat transfer rates (Kandlikar 2012 Qian and Lawai
2006) In returns micro device has become an excellent and preferable tool for heat
exchanger
As the dimension scale is reduced to micrometric scale surface to volume
ratio has become significantly important Surface tension as well as viscous force has
dominated the system as compared to gravitational force (Ahmed-Orner and Wirth
2008) In other words the flow regimes observed for two-phase flows in
microchannel are different from the regimes mapped in larger channels (Ventakesan
et aI 2010) Surface tension is originated from the intermolecular forces in which
this forces are generally negligible at macrometric scale (Bayraktar and Pidugu
6
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
I
20 Density and Surface Tension of Water Against Air at Various 14
Temperatures (Weast and Astle 1982)
30 Dimensions of Capillaries 35
31 Determination of Cell Quality 37
32 Details of Mesh 37
33 Material Properties 40
34 Problem Setup 40
40 Result for the Simulation 43
ix
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
21 Flow Regimes Map (Saisorn and Wongwises 2011) 16
Two-phase Flow Regimes Map for a 100 Jlm Microchannel 22 18
(Kawahara et aI 2002)
23 T - junctions
T - junction with gas and liquid inlet perpendicular to the 23a 20
main channel
T- junction with either gas or liquid inlet is in the direction 23b 20
of the main channel
24 y- junction 21
25 Cross- junction 21
26 Flow- focusing 21
27 Flow Patterns in Vertical Upflow (Azzopardi nd) 26
Steps Involved in Developing the Methodologies for the Design 31 28
Project
32 Subjects Reviewed in Literature Review 30
33 Steps Involved in Determining the Design Criteria 31
34 Steps Involved in Preparation of Complete Experimental Facility 32
35 Adjusted Design of the Microchannel 34
36 Final Design for the Microchannel 34
37 Overall Test Section 35
38 3D Domain(Bakker 2002) 36
39 Meshing for Air Capillary 38
310 Meshing for Water Capillary 38
311 Meshing for Multiphase Capillary 39
312 Steps Involved in Solver Setting 39
41 Contours of Volume Fraction (Air) for Simulation 3 44
42 Overall Figure for Simulation 3 45
x
43 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 3 46
44 Overall Figure for Simulation 4 47
45 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 4 48
46 Overall Figure for Simulation 5 49
47 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 5 50
48 Overall Figure for Simulation 6 51
49 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 6 52
410 Overall Figure for Simulation 7 53
411 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 7 54
412 Annular Flow (taken from Saisom and Wongwises 2011) 55
413 Annular Flow (Simulation 7) 55
xi
J
0
LIST OF SYMBOLS
D Diameter
jo Superficial velocity for gas
JL Superficial velocity for liquid
p Secondary phase
q Primary phase
Qo Volumetric flowrate for gas
QL Volumetric flowrate for liquid
Re Reynolds
St Stokes
va vp Velocity of gas
VL Vq Velocity of liquid
vqp Slip velocity
Degree
degc Degree Celsius
y Surface tension
(4) Velocity ratio
a Void fraction
xii
-----
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
3D 3-Dimensional
CFD Computational Fluid Dynamic
CMC Carboxymethyl Cellulose
SDS Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate
VOF Volume of Fluid
xiii
LIST OF NOMENCLATURE
abn Atmosphere
cm Centimeter
dynecm Dyne per centimeter
glcm3 Gram per cubic meter
JkgmiddotK Joule per kilogram kelvin
kglmmiddots Kilogram per meter second
kglm3 Kilogram per cubic meter
mm Millimeter
mls Meter per second
mls2 Meter per square second
Nm Newton per meter
WmmiddotK Watts per meter kelvin
J1 Micron
J1m Micrometer
xiv
CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION
11 Multiphase Flow
A phase may refer to states of matter which include solid liquid and vapor
(Crowe and Michaelides 2006) Then a multiphase flow can be defined as the
simultaneous flow of a mixture of different states or phases such as gas-liquid gasshy
solid liquid-solid or gas-liquid-solid Multiphase flow specifically two-phase flows
are found in wide range of industrial applications which comprise power generation
hydrocarbon recovery and processing food manufacturing as well as in most aspects
of chemical engineering such as distillation absorption evaporation condensation
and many others As for the extraction and transportation of crude oil from the
reservoir up to the surface it involves various phases that are gas oil water and
solids Even more complex cases have been facing the industry as the formations of
hydrates and wax frequently occur in the production line
As mentioned previously there are several combinations of multi phase flows
For each combination that flows in a given channel various form of interfacial
distributions that are also called as flow patterns are observed Out of the four types
of flow that have been listed gas-liquid flow is identified as the most complex flow
due to the combination of characteristics that involve deformable interface and the
compressibility of one of the phases (Ghajar 2005 Rahman Heidrick and Fleck
Chapter 1 Introduction
2009) Besides classification of multiphase flow is not as simple as single-phase
flow since there is several other factors need to be considered in a multi scale
structured flow such as pressure drop geometry of the channel heat flux surface
tension and several others In single-phase flow the indication of flow characteristic
is basically based on the information that includes the type of flow which is either
laminar or turbulent as well as the existence of flow separation or secondary flows
In this paper an overvIew of gas-liquid flow in a circular cross section
microchannel is given Liquid and gas are mixed in the mixing chamber and entered
the multi phase micro-capillary hence produced several significance flow patterns
The flow morphologies of mixtures made of water and air produced at the
micrometer scale flowing in a channel of circular cross section are then studied
111 Dispersed Phase and Separated Flows
According to Corradini (1998) there are two basic types of flow patterns that
have been identified which are dispersed and stratified Dispersed flow is a type of
flow in where one phase which is in the form of discrete element is dispersed or
distributed in the other continuous phase (Patel 2010) The discrete element may be
in the form of finite particles drops or bubbles There are few examples of flow that
can be used to explain dispersed phase As in the cases for gas-solid and liquid-solid
flows the discrete elements are always in the solid phase since solid particles are not
connected with each other Meanwhile the dispersed phase in gas-liquid flow is
primarily affected by the flow rates of both phases involved For instance bubbly
flow pattern is obtained as the flow rate of the gas is significantly lower than the
liquid flow rate In addition the shape or size of the dispersed phase is governed by
2
Chapter 1 Introduction
everal factors that include balance of buoyancy inertial and surface tension forces
(Corradini 1998)
Meanwhile stratified flow is a type of flow in where the two phases involved
are separated by a distinct line of contact (Patel 2010) In contrast with bubbly flow
greater flow rate of gas phase has resulted in vertical annular flow pattern in where
there is a liquid layer along the pipe wall alongside a gaseous inner core In other
words as for the cases of horizontal and vertical flows the two different streams are
separated from each other yet travel along in the same medium due to the density and
mass flowrate differences respectively (Corradini 1998)
112 Gas-Liquid Flow
Gas-liquid flow is characterized with the flow of two phases in which one of
the phases is in gaseous form while the other is in liquid form This combination of
flows in pipes has resulted in various configurations or flow patterns ranging from
bubbly flow to annular flow There are several industries that utilize the application
of gas-liquid flow which include bubble columns the generation of small droplets
for combustion in power generation system as well as the formation of droplet for
spray forming especially in materials processing
113 Gas-Solid Flow
Flow of gas phase together with suspended solid particles best described gasshy
solid flow This type of flow has been widely used to many industrial applications
which include pneumatic transport pollution control and so on For pneumatic
3
Chapter 1 Introduction
transport it is the main method of transporting solid materials According to (Crowe
2011) in vertical up-flow orientation the velocity of the gas has to be greater than
the settling velocity of the particles in order to maintain the transport
114 Liquid-Solid Flow
Liquid-solid flow involves the flow of solid particles that are carried via the
liquid phase This type of flow can be classified under dispersed phase flow due to
the dispersion of solid particles within the continuous liquid phase The discrete
elements are conveyed through the channel by the drag and pressure forces exerted
by the liquid phase (Weber 2010) The distribution of solid particles in the flow is
dependent on several factors which involve the properties of solid and carrier liquid
parameters of the channel flow direction and many others Liquid-solid fluidization
sedimentation and filtration are some typical examples of liquid-solid flow Those
mentioned applications are mostly used in the industry for the purpose of separation
115 Three-Phase Flows
Other than gas-liquid gas-solid and liquid-solid flows three-phase flow is
another example of multi phase flows that is encountered in engineering applications
An example for three-phase flow is the occurrence of bubbles in slurry which in
returns have produced three-phase flows flowing together There are not much
literature or related materials on this type of flow yet this flow is identified to be
interesting branch of study for multiphase flows
4
Pusat Khidmat MaldumatAkademil Chapter 1 Ul1lElSm tAJAVSIA SARAWA Introduction
12 Industrial Application Involving Multiphase Flow
As mentioned earlier multiphase fluid flows can be found in various
industrial processes or applications One of the most common examples is the
application of bubble column Bubble column device is where gas that is in the form
of bubbles come in contact with liquid with the main objective which is to mix the
liquid phase (Zehner and Kraume 2005) This device is commonly used as
multiphase contactors and reactors especially in chemical biochemical and
petrochemical industries since they offer several benefits during operation and
maintenance which include high heat and mass transfer rates compactness as well
as low operating and maintenance cost (Kantarci Borak and Ulgen 2004)
In bubble column the liquid may flow in either two ways which are coshy
current or counter-current to the gas flow direction An example of the simplest
bubble column is the one that consists of a vertical tube with no internals or in other
words the column is installed without any trays packings or shafts Besides for
simplest design of bubble column the gas is fed into the column at the bottom pass
through the liquid and later escaping from the upper surface If the released gas
contains high concentration of valuable reactants recycle design can be
implemented To date the simplest form of bubble column is rarely used since
numerous types of modifications are employed in order to achieve more efficient
design system
According to Kantarci et al (2004) there are three types of flow regimes that
are commonly found in bubbles columns that are bubbly flow churn-turbulent flow
and slug flow regime These flow regimes are determined according to the
superficial gas velocity applied in the column Based on the literature written by
5
Chapter 1 Introduction
previous authors bubbly flow regime is obtained at low superficial gas velocities
meanwhile churn-turbulent regime started to develop at higher superficial gas
velocities For slug flow regime it has been only conducted and observed in a smallshy
scale diameter laboratory columns at high gas flow rates (Hyndman and Larachi
1997)
13 Microchannel
Microchannel can be defined as channel with dimension that is less than 1
mm and greater than I micron (~) (Sharp et aI 2005) For other dimensions that are
above 1 mm the behaviors of the flow are observed to be the same as most
macroscopic flows Microchannel has gradually received attention due to the several
benefits offered which include high surface to volume ratio high throughput in
parallel processing reduction in the volume of sample required and many others
Greater surface to volume ratio has resulted in high rate of heat and mass transfer or
in other words enhance the heat transfer rates (Kandlikar 2012 Qian and Lawai
2006) In returns micro device has become an excellent and preferable tool for heat
exchanger
As the dimension scale is reduced to micrometric scale surface to volume
ratio has become significantly important Surface tension as well as viscous force has
dominated the system as compared to gravitational force (Ahmed-Orner and Wirth
2008) In other words the flow regimes observed for two-phase flows in
microchannel are different from the regimes mapped in larger channels (Ventakesan
et aI 2010) Surface tension is originated from the intermolecular forces in which
this forces are generally negligible at macrometric scale (Bayraktar and Pidugu
6
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
21 Flow Regimes Map (Saisorn and Wongwises 2011) 16
Two-phase Flow Regimes Map for a 100 Jlm Microchannel 22 18
(Kawahara et aI 2002)
23 T - junctions
T - junction with gas and liquid inlet perpendicular to the 23a 20
main channel
T- junction with either gas or liquid inlet is in the direction 23b 20
of the main channel
24 y- junction 21
25 Cross- junction 21
26 Flow- focusing 21
27 Flow Patterns in Vertical Upflow (Azzopardi nd) 26
Steps Involved in Developing the Methodologies for the Design 31 28
Project
32 Subjects Reviewed in Literature Review 30
33 Steps Involved in Determining the Design Criteria 31
34 Steps Involved in Preparation of Complete Experimental Facility 32
35 Adjusted Design of the Microchannel 34
36 Final Design for the Microchannel 34
37 Overall Test Section 35
38 3D Domain(Bakker 2002) 36
39 Meshing for Air Capillary 38
310 Meshing for Water Capillary 38
311 Meshing for Multiphase Capillary 39
312 Steps Involved in Solver Setting 39
41 Contours of Volume Fraction (Air) for Simulation 3 44
42 Overall Figure for Simulation 3 45
x
43 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 3 46
44 Overall Figure for Simulation 4 47
45 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 4 48
46 Overall Figure for Simulation 5 49
47 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 5 50
48 Overall Figure for Simulation 6 51
49 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 6 52
410 Overall Figure for Simulation 7 53
411 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 7 54
412 Annular Flow (taken from Saisom and Wongwises 2011) 55
413 Annular Flow (Simulation 7) 55
xi
J
0
LIST OF SYMBOLS
D Diameter
jo Superficial velocity for gas
JL Superficial velocity for liquid
p Secondary phase
q Primary phase
Qo Volumetric flowrate for gas
QL Volumetric flowrate for liquid
Re Reynolds
St Stokes
va vp Velocity of gas
VL Vq Velocity of liquid
vqp Slip velocity
Degree
degc Degree Celsius
y Surface tension
(4) Velocity ratio
a Void fraction
xii
-----
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
3D 3-Dimensional
CFD Computational Fluid Dynamic
CMC Carboxymethyl Cellulose
SDS Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate
VOF Volume of Fluid
xiii
LIST OF NOMENCLATURE
abn Atmosphere
cm Centimeter
dynecm Dyne per centimeter
glcm3 Gram per cubic meter
JkgmiddotK Joule per kilogram kelvin
kglmmiddots Kilogram per meter second
kglm3 Kilogram per cubic meter
mm Millimeter
mls Meter per second
mls2 Meter per square second
Nm Newton per meter
WmmiddotK Watts per meter kelvin
J1 Micron
J1m Micrometer
xiv
CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION
11 Multiphase Flow
A phase may refer to states of matter which include solid liquid and vapor
(Crowe and Michaelides 2006) Then a multiphase flow can be defined as the
simultaneous flow of a mixture of different states or phases such as gas-liquid gasshy
solid liquid-solid or gas-liquid-solid Multiphase flow specifically two-phase flows
are found in wide range of industrial applications which comprise power generation
hydrocarbon recovery and processing food manufacturing as well as in most aspects
of chemical engineering such as distillation absorption evaporation condensation
and many others As for the extraction and transportation of crude oil from the
reservoir up to the surface it involves various phases that are gas oil water and
solids Even more complex cases have been facing the industry as the formations of
hydrates and wax frequently occur in the production line
As mentioned previously there are several combinations of multi phase flows
For each combination that flows in a given channel various form of interfacial
distributions that are also called as flow patterns are observed Out of the four types
of flow that have been listed gas-liquid flow is identified as the most complex flow
due to the combination of characteristics that involve deformable interface and the
compressibility of one of the phases (Ghajar 2005 Rahman Heidrick and Fleck
Chapter 1 Introduction
2009) Besides classification of multiphase flow is not as simple as single-phase
flow since there is several other factors need to be considered in a multi scale
structured flow such as pressure drop geometry of the channel heat flux surface
tension and several others In single-phase flow the indication of flow characteristic
is basically based on the information that includes the type of flow which is either
laminar or turbulent as well as the existence of flow separation or secondary flows
In this paper an overvIew of gas-liquid flow in a circular cross section
microchannel is given Liquid and gas are mixed in the mixing chamber and entered
the multi phase micro-capillary hence produced several significance flow patterns
The flow morphologies of mixtures made of water and air produced at the
micrometer scale flowing in a channel of circular cross section are then studied
111 Dispersed Phase and Separated Flows
According to Corradini (1998) there are two basic types of flow patterns that
have been identified which are dispersed and stratified Dispersed flow is a type of
flow in where one phase which is in the form of discrete element is dispersed or
distributed in the other continuous phase (Patel 2010) The discrete element may be
in the form of finite particles drops or bubbles There are few examples of flow that
can be used to explain dispersed phase As in the cases for gas-solid and liquid-solid
flows the discrete elements are always in the solid phase since solid particles are not
connected with each other Meanwhile the dispersed phase in gas-liquid flow is
primarily affected by the flow rates of both phases involved For instance bubbly
flow pattern is obtained as the flow rate of the gas is significantly lower than the
liquid flow rate In addition the shape or size of the dispersed phase is governed by
2
Chapter 1 Introduction
everal factors that include balance of buoyancy inertial and surface tension forces
(Corradini 1998)
Meanwhile stratified flow is a type of flow in where the two phases involved
are separated by a distinct line of contact (Patel 2010) In contrast with bubbly flow
greater flow rate of gas phase has resulted in vertical annular flow pattern in where
there is a liquid layer along the pipe wall alongside a gaseous inner core In other
words as for the cases of horizontal and vertical flows the two different streams are
separated from each other yet travel along in the same medium due to the density and
mass flowrate differences respectively (Corradini 1998)
112 Gas-Liquid Flow
Gas-liquid flow is characterized with the flow of two phases in which one of
the phases is in gaseous form while the other is in liquid form This combination of
flows in pipes has resulted in various configurations or flow patterns ranging from
bubbly flow to annular flow There are several industries that utilize the application
of gas-liquid flow which include bubble columns the generation of small droplets
for combustion in power generation system as well as the formation of droplet for
spray forming especially in materials processing
113 Gas-Solid Flow
Flow of gas phase together with suspended solid particles best described gasshy
solid flow This type of flow has been widely used to many industrial applications
which include pneumatic transport pollution control and so on For pneumatic
3
Chapter 1 Introduction
transport it is the main method of transporting solid materials According to (Crowe
2011) in vertical up-flow orientation the velocity of the gas has to be greater than
the settling velocity of the particles in order to maintain the transport
114 Liquid-Solid Flow
Liquid-solid flow involves the flow of solid particles that are carried via the
liquid phase This type of flow can be classified under dispersed phase flow due to
the dispersion of solid particles within the continuous liquid phase The discrete
elements are conveyed through the channel by the drag and pressure forces exerted
by the liquid phase (Weber 2010) The distribution of solid particles in the flow is
dependent on several factors which involve the properties of solid and carrier liquid
parameters of the channel flow direction and many others Liquid-solid fluidization
sedimentation and filtration are some typical examples of liquid-solid flow Those
mentioned applications are mostly used in the industry for the purpose of separation
115 Three-Phase Flows
Other than gas-liquid gas-solid and liquid-solid flows three-phase flow is
another example of multi phase flows that is encountered in engineering applications
An example for three-phase flow is the occurrence of bubbles in slurry which in
returns have produced three-phase flows flowing together There are not much
literature or related materials on this type of flow yet this flow is identified to be
interesting branch of study for multiphase flows
4
Pusat Khidmat MaldumatAkademil Chapter 1 Ul1lElSm tAJAVSIA SARAWA Introduction
12 Industrial Application Involving Multiphase Flow
As mentioned earlier multiphase fluid flows can be found in various
industrial processes or applications One of the most common examples is the
application of bubble column Bubble column device is where gas that is in the form
of bubbles come in contact with liquid with the main objective which is to mix the
liquid phase (Zehner and Kraume 2005) This device is commonly used as
multiphase contactors and reactors especially in chemical biochemical and
petrochemical industries since they offer several benefits during operation and
maintenance which include high heat and mass transfer rates compactness as well
as low operating and maintenance cost (Kantarci Borak and Ulgen 2004)
In bubble column the liquid may flow in either two ways which are coshy
current or counter-current to the gas flow direction An example of the simplest
bubble column is the one that consists of a vertical tube with no internals or in other
words the column is installed without any trays packings or shafts Besides for
simplest design of bubble column the gas is fed into the column at the bottom pass
through the liquid and later escaping from the upper surface If the released gas
contains high concentration of valuable reactants recycle design can be
implemented To date the simplest form of bubble column is rarely used since
numerous types of modifications are employed in order to achieve more efficient
design system
According to Kantarci et al (2004) there are three types of flow regimes that
are commonly found in bubbles columns that are bubbly flow churn-turbulent flow
and slug flow regime These flow regimes are determined according to the
superficial gas velocity applied in the column Based on the literature written by
5
Chapter 1 Introduction
previous authors bubbly flow regime is obtained at low superficial gas velocities
meanwhile churn-turbulent regime started to develop at higher superficial gas
velocities For slug flow regime it has been only conducted and observed in a smallshy
scale diameter laboratory columns at high gas flow rates (Hyndman and Larachi
1997)
13 Microchannel
Microchannel can be defined as channel with dimension that is less than 1
mm and greater than I micron (~) (Sharp et aI 2005) For other dimensions that are
above 1 mm the behaviors of the flow are observed to be the same as most
macroscopic flows Microchannel has gradually received attention due to the several
benefits offered which include high surface to volume ratio high throughput in
parallel processing reduction in the volume of sample required and many others
Greater surface to volume ratio has resulted in high rate of heat and mass transfer or
in other words enhance the heat transfer rates (Kandlikar 2012 Qian and Lawai
2006) In returns micro device has become an excellent and preferable tool for heat
exchanger
As the dimension scale is reduced to micrometric scale surface to volume
ratio has become significantly important Surface tension as well as viscous force has
dominated the system as compared to gravitational force (Ahmed-Orner and Wirth
2008) In other words the flow regimes observed for two-phase flows in
microchannel are different from the regimes mapped in larger channels (Ventakesan
et aI 2010) Surface tension is originated from the intermolecular forces in which
this forces are generally negligible at macrometric scale (Bayraktar and Pidugu
6
43 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 3 46
44 Overall Figure for Simulation 4 47
45 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 4 48
46 Overall Figure for Simulation 5 49
47 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 5 50
48 Overall Figure for Simulation 6 51
49 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 6 52
410 Overall Figure for Simulation 7 53
411 Multiphase Micro-Capillary for Simulation 7 54
412 Annular Flow (taken from Saisom and Wongwises 2011) 55
413 Annular Flow (Simulation 7) 55
xi
J
0
LIST OF SYMBOLS
D Diameter
jo Superficial velocity for gas
JL Superficial velocity for liquid
p Secondary phase
q Primary phase
Qo Volumetric flowrate for gas
QL Volumetric flowrate for liquid
Re Reynolds
St Stokes
va vp Velocity of gas
VL Vq Velocity of liquid
vqp Slip velocity
Degree
degc Degree Celsius
y Surface tension
(4) Velocity ratio
a Void fraction
xii
-----
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
3D 3-Dimensional
CFD Computational Fluid Dynamic
CMC Carboxymethyl Cellulose
SDS Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate
VOF Volume of Fluid
xiii
LIST OF NOMENCLATURE
abn Atmosphere
cm Centimeter
dynecm Dyne per centimeter
glcm3 Gram per cubic meter
JkgmiddotK Joule per kilogram kelvin
kglmmiddots Kilogram per meter second
kglm3 Kilogram per cubic meter
mm Millimeter
mls Meter per second
mls2 Meter per square second
Nm Newton per meter
WmmiddotK Watts per meter kelvin
J1 Micron
J1m Micrometer
xiv
CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION
11 Multiphase Flow
A phase may refer to states of matter which include solid liquid and vapor
(Crowe and Michaelides 2006) Then a multiphase flow can be defined as the
simultaneous flow of a mixture of different states or phases such as gas-liquid gasshy
solid liquid-solid or gas-liquid-solid Multiphase flow specifically two-phase flows
are found in wide range of industrial applications which comprise power generation
hydrocarbon recovery and processing food manufacturing as well as in most aspects
of chemical engineering such as distillation absorption evaporation condensation
and many others As for the extraction and transportation of crude oil from the
reservoir up to the surface it involves various phases that are gas oil water and
solids Even more complex cases have been facing the industry as the formations of
hydrates and wax frequently occur in the production line
As mentioned previously there are several combinations of multi phase flows
For each combination that flows in a given channel various form of interfacial
distributions that are also called as flow patterns are observed Out of the four types
of flow that have been listed gas-liquid flow is identified as the most complex flow
due to the combination of characteristics that involve deformable interface and the
compressibility of one of the phases (Ghajar 2005 Rahman Heidrick and Fleck
Chapter 1 Introduction
2009) Besides classification of multiphase flow is not as simple as single-phase
flow since there is several other factors need to be considered in a multi scale
structured flow such as pressure drop geometry of the channel heat flux surface
tension and several others In single-phase flow the indication of flow characteristic
is basically based on the information that includes the type of flow which is either
laminar or turbulent as well as the existence of flow separation or secondary flows
In this paper an overvIew of gas-liquid flow in a circular cross section
microchannel is given Liquid and gas are mixed in the mixing chamber and entered
the multi phase micro-capillary hence produced several significance flow patterns
The flow morphologies of mixtures made of water and air produced at the
micrometer scale flowing in a channel of circular cross section are then studied
111 Dispersed Phase and Separated Flows
According to Corradini (1998) there are two basic types of flow patterns that
have been identified which are dispersed and stratified Dispersed flow is a type of
flow in where one phase which is in the form of discrete element is dispersed or
distributed in the other continuous phase (Patel 2010) The discrete element may be
in the form of finite particles drops or bubbles There are few examples of flow that
can be used to explain dispersed phase As in the cases for gas-solid and liquid-solid
flows the discrete elements are always in the solid phase since solid particles are not
connected with each other Meanwhile the dispersed phase in gas-liquid flow is
primarily affected by the flow rates of both phases involved For instance bubbly
flow pattern is obtained as the flow rate of the gas is significantly lower than the
liquid flow rate In addition the shape or size of the dispersed phase is governed by
2
Chapter 1 Introduction
everal factors that include balance of buoyancy inertial and surface tension forces
(Corradini 1998)
Meanwhile stratified flow is a type of flow in where the two phases involved
are separated by a distinct line of contact (Patel 2010) In contrast with bubbly flow
greater flow rate of gas phase has resulted in vertical annular flow pattern in where
there is a liquid layer along the pipe wall alongside a gaseous inner core In other
words as for the cases of horizontal and vertical flows the two different streams are
separated from each other yet travel along in the same medium due to the density and
mass flowrate differences respectively (Corradini 1998)
112 Gas-Liquid Flow
Gas-liquid flow is characterized with the flow of two phases in which one of
the phases is in gaseous form while the other is in liquid form This combination of
flows in pipes has resulted in various configurations or flow patterns ranging from
bubbly flow to annular flow There are several industries that utilize the application
of gas-liquid flow which include bubble columns the generation of small droplets
for combustion in power generation system as well as the formation of droplet for
spray forming especially in materials processing
113 Gas-Solid Flow
Flow of gas phase together with suspended solid particles best described gasshy
solid flow This type of flow has been widely used to many industrial applications
which include pneumatic transport pollution control and so on For pneumatic
3
Chapter 1 Introduction
transport it is the main method of transporting solid materials According to (Crowe
2011) in vertical up-flow orientation the velocity of the gas has to be greater than
the settling velocity of the particles in order to maintain the transport
114 Liquid-Solid Flow
Liquid-solid flow involves the flow of solid particles that are carried via the
liquid phase This type of flow can be classified under dispersed phase flow due to
the dispersion of solid particles within the continuous liquid phase The discrete
elements are conveyed through the channel by the drag and pressure forces exerted
by the liquid phase (Weber 2010) The distribution of solid particles in the flow is
dependent on several factors which involve the properties of solid and carrier liquid
parameters of the channel flow direction and many others Liquid-solid fluidization
sedimentation and filtration are some typical examples of liquid-solid flow Those
mentioned applications are mostly used in the industry for the purpose of separation
115 Three-Phase Flows
Other than gas-liquid gas-solid and liquid-solid flows three-phase flow is
another example of multi phase flows that is encountered in engineering applications
An example for three-phase flow is the occurrence of bubbles in slurry which in
returns have produced three-phase flows flowing together There are not much
literature or related materials on this type of flow yet this flow is identified to be
interesting branch of study for multiphase flows
4
Pusat Khidmat MaldumatAkademil Chapter 1 Ul1lElSm tAJAVSIA SARAWA Introduction
12 Industrial Application Involving Multiphase Flow
As mentioned earlier multiphase fluid flows can be found in various
industrial processes or applications One of the most common examples is the
application of bubble column Bubble column device is where gas that is in the form
of bubbles come in contact with liquid with the main objective which is to mix the
liquid phase (Zehner and Kraume 2005) This device is commonly used as
multiphase contactors and reactors especially in chemical biochemical and
petrochemical industries since they offer several benefits during operation and
maintenance which include high heat and mass transfer rates compactness as well
as low operating and maintenance cost (Kantarci Borak and Ulgen 2004)
In bubble column the liquid may flow in either two ways which are coshy
current or counter-current to the gas flow direction An example of the simplest
bubble column is the one that consists of a vertical tube with no internals or in other
words the column is installed without any trays packings or shafts Besides for
simplest design of bubble column the gas is fed into the column at the bottom pass
through the liquid and later escaping from the upper surface If the released gas
contains high concentration of valuable reactants recycle design can be
implemented To date the simplest form of bubble column is rarely used since
numerous types of modifications are employed in order to achieve more efficient
design system
According to Kantarci et al (2004) there are three types of flow regimes that
are commonly found in bubbles columns that are bubbly flow churn-turbulent flow
and slug flow regime These flow regimes are determined according to the
superficial gas velocity applied in the column Based on the literature written by
5
Chapter 1 Introduction
previous authors bubbly flow regime is obtained at low superficial gas velocities
meanwhile churn-turbulent regime started to develop at higher superficial gas
velocities For slug flow regime it has been only conducted and observed in a smallshy
scale diameter laboratory columns at high gas flow rates (Hyndman and Larachi
1997)
13 Microchannel
Microchannel can be defined as channel with dimension that is less than 1
mm and greater than I micron (~) (Sharp et aI 2005) For other dimensions that are
above 1 mm the behaviors of the flow are observed to be the same as most
macroscopic flows Microchannel has gradually received attention due to the several
benefits offered which include high surface to volume ratio high throughput in
parallel processing reduction in the volume of sample required and many others
Greater surface to volume ratio has resulted in high rate of heat and mass transfer or
in other words enhance the heat transfer rates (Kandlikar 2012 Qian and Lawai
2006) In returns micro device has become an excellent and preferable tool for heat
exchanger
As the dimension scale is reduced to micrometric scale surface to volume
ratio has become significantly important Surface tension as well as viscous force has
dominated the system as compared to gravitational force (Ahmed-Orner and Wirth
2008) In other words the flow regimes observed for two-phase flows in
microchannel are different from the regimes mapped in larger channels (Ventakesan
et aI 2010) Surface tension is originated from the intermolecular forces in which
this forces are generally negligible at macrometric scale (Bayraktar and Pidugu
6
0
LIST OF SYMBOLS
D Diameter
jo Superficial velocity for gas
JL Superficial velocity for liquid
p Secondary phase
q Primary phase
Qo Volumetric flowrate for gas
QL Volumetric flowrate for liquid
Re Reynolds
St Stokes
va vp Velocity of gas
VL Vq Velocity of liquid
vqp Slip velocity
Degree
degc Degree Celsius
y Surface tension
(4) Velocity ratio
a Void fraction
xii
-----
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
3D 3-Dimensional
CFD Computational Fluid Dynamic
CMC Carboxymethyl Cellulose
SDS Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate
VOF Volume of Fluid
xiii
LIST OF NOMENCLATURE
abn Atmosphere
cm Centimeter
dynecm Dyne per centimeter
glcm3 Gram per cubic meter
JkgmiddotK Joule per kilogram kelvin
kglmmiddots Kilogram per meter second
kglm3 Kilogram per cubic meter
mm Millimeter
mls Meter per second
mls2 Meter per square second
Nm Newton per meter
WmmiddotK Watts per meter kelvin
J1 Micron
J1m Micrometer
xiv
CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION
11 Multiphase Flow
A phase may refer to states of matter which include solid liquid and vapor
(Crowe and Michaelides 2006) Then a multiphase flow can be defined as the
simultaneous flow of a mixture of different states or phases such as gas-liquid gasshy
solid liquid-solid or gas-liquid-solid Multiphase flow specifically two-phase flows
are found in wide range of industrial applications which comprise power generation
hydrocarbon recovery and processing food manufacturing as well as in most aspects
of chemical engineering such as distillation absorption evaporation condensation
and many others As for the extraction and transportation of crude oil from the
reservoir up to the surface it involves various phases that are gas oil water and
solids Even more complex cases have been facing the industry as the formations of
hydrates and wax frequently occur in the production line
As mentioned previously there are several combinations of multi phase flows
For each combination that flows in a given channel various form of interfacial
distributions that are also called as flow patterns are observed Out of the four types
of flow that have been listed gas-liquid flow is identified as the most complex flow
due to the combination of characteristics that involve deformable interface and the
compressibility of one of the phases (Ghajar 2005 Rahman Heidrick and Fleck
Chapter 1 Introduction
2009) Besides classification of multiphase flow is not as simple as single-phase
flow since there is several other factors need to be considered in a multi scale
structured flow such as pressure drop geometry of the channel heat flux surface
tension and several others In single-phase flow the indication of flow characteristic
is basically based on the information that includes the type of flow which is either
laminar or turbulent as well as the existence of flow separation or secondary flows
In this paper an overvIew of gas-liquid flow in a circular cross section
microchannel is given Liquid and gas are mixed in the mixing chamber and entered
the multi phase micro-capillary hence produced several significance flow patterns
The flow morphologies of mixtures made of water and air produced at the
micrometer scale flowing in a channel of circular cross section are then studied
111 Dispersed Phase and Separated Flows
According to Corradini (1998) there are two basic types of flow patterns that
have been identified which are dispersed and stratified Dispersed flow is a type of
flow in where one phase which is in the form of discrete element is dispersed or
distributed in the other continuous phase (Patel 2010) The discrete element may be
in the form of finite particles drops or bubbles There are few examples of flow that
can be used to explain dispersed phase As in the cases for gas-solid and liquid-solid
flows the discrete elements are always in the solid phase since solid particles are not
connected with each other Meanwhile the dispersed phase in gas-liquid flow is
primarily affected by the flow rates of both phases involved For instance bubbly
flow pattern is obtained as the flow rate of the gas is significantly lower than the
liquid flow rate In addition the shape or size of the dispersed phase is governed by
2
Chapter 1 Introduction
everal factors that include balance of buoyancy inertial and surface tension forces
(Corradini 1998)
Meanwhile stratified flow is a type of flow in where the two phases involved
are separated by a distinct line of contact (Patel 2010) In contrast with bubbly flow
greater flow rate of gas phase has resulted in vertical annular flow pattern in where
there is a liquid layer along the pipe wall alongside a gaseous inner core In other
words as for the cases of horizontal and vertical flows the two different streams are
separated from each other yet travel along in the same medium due to the density and
mass flowrate differences respectively (Corradini 1998)
112 Gas-Liquid Flow
Gas-liquid flow is characterized with the flow of two phases in which one of
the phases is in gaseous form while the other is in liquid form This combination of
flows in pipes has resulted in various configurations or flow patterns ranging from
bubbly flow to annular flow There are several industries that utilize the application
of gas-liquid flow which include bubble columns the generation of small droplets
for combustion in power generation system as well as the formation of droplet for
spray forming especially in materials processing
113 Gas-Solid Flow
Flow of gas phase together with suspended solid particles best described gasshy
solid flow This type of flow has been widely used to many industrial applications
which include pneumatic transport pollution control and so on For pneumatic
3
Chapter 1 Introduction
transport it is the main method of transporting solid materials According to (Crowe
2011) in vertical up-flow orientation the velocity of the gas has to be greater than
the settling velocity of the particles in order to maintain the transport
114 Liquid-Solid Flow
Liquid-solid flow involves the flow of solid particles that are carried via the
liquid phase This type of flow can be classified under dispersed phase flow due to
the dispersion of solid particles within the continuous liquid phase The discrete
elements are conveyed through the channel by the drag and pressure forces exerted
by the liquid phase (Weber 2010) The distribution of solid particles in the flow is
dependent on several factors which involve the properties of solid and carrier liquid
parameters of the channel flow direction and many others Liquid-solid fluidization
sedimentation and filtration are some typical examples of liquid-solid flow Those
mentioned applications are mostly used in the industry for the purpose of separation
115 Three-Phase Flows
Other than gas-liquid gas-solid and liquid-solid flows three-phase flow is
another example of multi phase flows that is encountered in engineering applications
An example for three-phase flow is the occurrence of bubbles in slurry which in
returns have produced three-phase flows flowing together There are not much
literature or related materials on this type of flow yet this flow is identified to be
interesting branch of study for multiphase flows
4
Pusat Khidmat MaldumatAkademil Chapter 1 Ul1lElSm tAJAVSIA SARAWA Introduction
12 Industrial Application Involving Multiphase Flow
As mentioned earlier multiphase fluid flows can be found in various
industrial processes or applications One of the most common examples is the
application of bubble column Bubble column device is where gas that is in the form
of bubbles come in contact with liquid with the main objective which is to mix the
liquid phase (Zehner and Kraume 2005) This device is commonly used as
multiphase contactors and reactors especially in chemical biochemical and
petrochemical industries since they offer several benefits during operation and
maintenance which include high heat and mass transfer rates compactness as well
as low operating and maintenance cost (Kantarci Borak and Ulgen 2004)
In bubble column the liquid may flow in either two ways which are coshy
current or counter-current to the gas flow direction An example of the simplest
bubble column is the one that consists of a vertical tube with no internals or in other
words the column is installed without any trays packings or shafts Besides for
simplest design of bubble column the gas is fed into the column at the bottom pass
through the liquid and later escaping from the upper surface If the released gas
contains high concentration of valuable reactants recycle design can be
implemented To date the simplest form of bubble column is rarely used since
numerous types of modifications are employed in order to achieve more efficient
design system
According to Kantarci et al (2004) there are three types of flow regimes that
are commonly found in bubbles columns that are bubbly flow churn-turbulent flow
and slug flow regime These flow regimes are determined according to the
superficial gas velocity applied in the column Based on the literature written by
5
Chapter 1 Introduction
previous authors bubbly flow regime is obtained at low superficial gas velocities
meanwhile churn-turbulent regime started to develop at higher superficial gas
velocities For slug flow regime it has been only conducted and observed in a smallshy
scale diameter laboratory columns at high gas flow rates (Hyndman and Larachi
1997)
13 Microchannel
Microchannel can be defined as channel with dimension that is less than 1
mm and greater than I micron (~) (Sharp et aI 2005) For other dimensions that are
above 1 mm the behaviors of the flow are observed to be the same as most
macroscopic flows Microchannel has gradually received attention due to the several
benefits offered which include high surface to volume ratio high throughput in
parallel processing reduction in the volume of sample required and many others
Greater surface to volume ratio has resulted in high rate of heat and mass transfer or
in other words enhance the heat transfer rates (Kandlikar 2012 Qian and Lawai
2006) In returns micro device has become an excellent and preferable tool for heat
exchanger
As the dimension scale is reduced to micrometric scale surface to volume
ratio has become significantly important Surface tension as well as viscous force has
dominated the system as compared to gravitational force (Ahmed-Orner and Wirth
2008) In other words the flow regimes observed for two-phase flows in
microchannel are different from the regimes mapped in larger channels (Ventakesan
et aI 2010) Surface tension is originated from the intermolecular forces in which
this forces are generally negligible at macrometric scale (Bayraktar and Pidugu
6
-----
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
3D 3-Dimensional
CFD Computational Fluid Dynamic
CMC Carboxymethyl Cellulose
SDS Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate
VOF Volume of Fluid
xiii
LIST OF NOMENCLATURE
abn Atmosphere
cm Centimeter
dynecm Dyne per centimeter
glcm3 Gram per cubic meter
JkgmiddotK Joule per kilogram kelvin
kglmmiddots Kilogram per meter second
kglm3 Kilogram per cubic meter
mm Millimeter
mls Meter per second
mls2 Meter per square second
Nm Newton per meter
WmmiddotK Watts per meter kelvin
J1 Micron
J1m Micrometer
xiv
CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION
11 Multiphase Flow
A phase may refer to states of matter which include solid liquid and vapor
(Crowe and Michaelides 2006) Then a multiphase flow can be defined as the
simultaneous flow of a mixture of different states or phases such as gas-liquid gasshy
solid liquid-solid or gas-liquid-solid Multiphase flow specifically two-phase flows
are found in wide range of industrial applications which comprise power generation
hydrocarbon recovery and processing food manufacturing as well as in most aspects
of chemical engineering such as distillation absorption evaporation condensation
and many others As for the extraction and transportation of crude oil from the
reservoir up to the surface it involves various phases that are gas oil water and
solids Even more complex cases have been facing the industry as the formations of
hydrates and wax frequently occur in the production line
As mentioned previously there are several combinations of multi phase flows
For each combination that flows in a given channel various form of interfacial
distributions that are also called as flow patterns are observed Out of the four types
of flow that have been listed gas-liquid flow is identified as the most complex flow
due to the combination of characteristics that involve deformable interface and the
compressibility of one of the phases (Ghajar 2005 Rahman Heidrick and Fleck
Chapter 1 Introduction
2009) Besides classification of multiphase flow is not as simple as single-phase
flow since there is several other factors need to be considered in a multi scale
structured flow such as pressure drop geometry of the channel heat flux surface
tension and several others In single-phase flow the indication of flow characteristic
is basically based on the information that includes the type of flow which is either
laminar or turbulent as well as the existence of flow separation or secondary flows
In this paper an overvIew of gas-liquid flow in a circular cross section
microchannel is given Liquid and gas are mixed in the mixing chamber and entered
the multi phase micro-capillary hence produced several significance flow patterns
The flow morphologies of mixtures made of water and air produced at the
micrometer scale flowing in a channel of circular cross section are then studied
111 Dispersed Phase and Separated Flows
According to Corradini (1998) there are two basic types of flow patterns that
have been identified which are dispersed and stratified Dispersed flow is a type of
flow in where one phase which is in the form of discrete element is dispersed or
distributed in the other continuous phase (Patel 2010) The discrete element may be
in the form of finite particles drops or bubbles There are few examples of flow that
can be used to explain dispersed phase As in the cases for gas-solid and liquid-solid
flows the discrete elements are always in the solid phase since solid particles are not
connected with each other Meanwhile the dispersed phase in gas-liquid flow is
primarily affected by the flow rates of both phases involved For instance bubbly
flow pattern is obtained as the flow rate of the gas is significantly lower than the
liquid flow rate In addition the shape or size of the dispersed phase is governed by
2
Chapter 1 Introduction
everal factors that include balance of buoyancy inertial and surface tension forces
(Corradini 1998)
Meanwhile stratified flow is a type of flow in where the two phases involved
are separated by a distinct line of contact (Patel 2010) In contrast with bubbly flow
greater flow rate of gas phase has resulted in vertical annular flow pattern in where
there is a liquid layer along the pipe wall alongside a gaseous inner core In other
words as for the cases of horizontal and vertical flows the two different streams are
separated from each other yet travel along in the same medium due to the density and
mass flowrate differences respectively (Corradini 1998)
112 Gas-Liquid Flow
Gas-liquid flow is characterized with the flow of two phases in which one of
the phases is in gaseous form while the other is in liquid form This combination of
flows in pipes has resulted in various configurations or flow patterns ranging from
bubbly flow to annular flow There are several industries that utilize the application
of gas-liquid flow which include bubble columns the generation of small droplets
for combustion in power generation system as well as the formation of droplet for
spray forming especially in materials processing
113 Gas-Solid Flow
Flow of gas phase together with suspended solid particles best described gasshy
solid flow This type of flow has been widely used to many industrial applications
which include pneumatic transport pollution control and so on For pneumatic
3
Chapter 1 Introduction
transport it is the main method of transporting solid materials According to (Crowe
2011) in vertical up-flow orientation the velocity of the gas has to be greater than
the settling velocity of the particles in order to maintain the transport
114 Liquid-Solid Flow
Liquid-solid flow involves the flow of solid particles that are carried via the
liquid phase This type of flow can be classified under dispersed phase flow due to
the dispersion of solid particles within the continuous liquid phase The discrete
elements are conveyed through the channel by the drag and pressure forces exerted
by the liquid phase (Weber 2010) The distribution of solid particles in the flow is
dependent on several factors which involve the properties of solid and carrier liquid
parameters of the channel flow direction and many others Liquid-solid fluidization
sedimentation and filtration are some typical examples of liquid-solid flow Those
mentioned applications are mostly used in the industry for the purpose of separation
115 Three-Phase Flows
Other than gas-liquid gas-solid and liquid-solid flows three-phase flow is
another example of multi phase flows that is encountered in engineering applications
An example for three-phase flow is the occurrence of bubbles in slurry which in
returns have produced three-phase flows flowing together There are not much
literature or related materials on this type of flow yet this flow is identified to be
interesting branch of study for multiphase flows
4
Pusat Khidmat MaldumatAkademil Chapter 1 Ul1lElSm tAJAVSIA SARAWA Introduction
12 Industrial Application Involving Multiphase Flow
As mentioned earlier multiphase fluid flows can be found in various
industrial processes or applications One of the most common examples is the
application of bubble column Bubble column device is where gas that is in the form
of bubbles come in contact with liquid with the main objective which is to mix the
liquid phase (Zehner and Kraume 2005) This device is commonly used as
multiphase contactors and reactors especially in chemical biochemical and
petrochemical industries since they offer several benefits during operation and
maintenance which include high heat and mass transfer rates compactness as well
as low operating and maintenance cost (Kantarci Borak and Ulgen 2004)
In bubble column the liquid may flow in either two ways which are coshy
current or counter-current to the gas flow direction An example of the simplest
bubble column is the one that consists of a vertical tube with no internals or in other
words the column is installed without any trays packings or shafts Besides for
simplest design of bubble column the gas is fed into the column at the bottom pass
through the liquid and later escaping from the upper surface If the released gas
contains high concentration of valuable reactants recycle design can be
implemented To date the simplest form of bubble column is rarely used since
numerous types of modifications are employed in order to achieve more efficient
design system
According to Kantarci et al (2004) there are three types of flow regimes that
are commonly found in bubbles columns that are bubbly flow churn-turbulent flow
and slug flow regime These flow regimes are determined according to the
superficial gas velocity applied in the column Based on the literature written by
5
Chapter 1 Introduction
previous authors bubbly flow regime is obtained at low superficial gas velocities
meanwhile churn-turbulent regime started to develop at higher superficial gas
velocities For slug flow regime it has been only conducted and observed in a smallshy
scale diameter laboratory columns at high gas flow rates (Hyndman and Larachi
1997)
13 Microchannel
Microchannel can be defined as channel with dimension that is less than 1
mm and greater than I micron (~) (Sharp et aI 2005) For other dimensions that are
above 1 mm the behaviors of the flow are observed to be the same as most
macroscopic flows Microchannel has gradually received attention due to the several
benefits offered which include high surface to volume ratio high throughput in
parallel processing reduction in the volume of sample required and many others
Greater surface to volume ratio has resulted in high rate of heat and mass transfer or
in other words enhance the heat transfer rates (Kandlikar 2012 Qian and Lawai
2006) In returns micro device has become an excellent and preferable tool for heat
exchanger
As the dimension scale is reduced to micrometric scale surface to volume
ratio has become significantly important Surface tension as well as viscous force has
dominated the system as compared to gravitational force (Ahmed-Orner and Wirth
2008) In other words the flow regimes observed for two-phase flows in
microchannel are different from the regimes mapped in larger channels (Ventakesan
et aI 2010) Surface tension is originated from the intermolecular forces in which
this forces are generally negligible at macrometric scale (Bayraktar and Pidugu
6
LIST OF NOMENCLATURE
abn Atmosphere
cm Centimeter
dynecm Dyne per centimeter
glcm3 Gram per cubic meter
JkgmiddotK Joule per kilogram kelvin
kglmmiddots Kilogram per meter second
kglm3 Kilogram per cubic meter
mm Millimeter
mls Meter per second
mls2 Meter per square second
Nm Newton per meter
WmmiddotK Watts per meter kelvin
J1 Micron
J1m Micrometer
xiv
CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION
11 Multiphase Flow
A phase may refer to states of matter which include solid liquid and vapor
(Crowe and Michaelides 2006) Then a multiphase flow can be defined as the
simultaneous flow of a mixture of different states or phases such as gas-liquid gasshy
solid liquid-solid or gas-liquid-solid Multiphase flow specifically two-phase flows
are found in wide range of industrial applications which comprise power generation
hydrocarbon recovery and processing food manufacturing as well as in most aspects
of chemical engineering such as distillation absorption evaporation condensation
and many others As for the extraction and transportation of crude oil from the
reservoir up to the surface it involves various phases that are gas oil water and
solids Even more complex cases have been facing the industry as the formations of
hydrates and wax frequently occur in the production line
As mentioned previously there are several combinations of multi phase flows
For each combination that flows in a given channel various form of interfacial
distributions that are also called as flow patterns are observed Out of the four types
of flow that have been listed gas-liquid flow is identified as the most complex flow
due to the combination of characteristics that involve deformable interface and the
compressibility of one of the phases (Ghajar 2005 Rahman Heidrick and Fleck
Chapter 1 Introduction
2009) Besides classification of multiphase flow is not as simple as single-phase
flow since there is several other factors need to be considered in a multi scale
structured flow such as pressure drop geometry of the channel heat flux surface
tension and several others In single-phase flow the indication of flow characteristic
is basically based on the information that includes the type of flow which is either
laminar or turbulent as well as the existence of flow separation or secondary flows
In this paper an overvIew of gas-liquid flow in a circular cross section
microchannel is given Liquid and gas are mixed in the mixing chamber and entered
the multi phase micro-capillary hence produced several significance flow patterns
The flow morphologies of mixtures made of water and air produced at the
micrometer scale flowing in a channel of circular cross section are then studied
111 Dispersed Phase and Separated Flows
According to Corradini (1998) there are two basic types of flow patterns that
have been identified which are dispersed and stratified Dispersed flow is a type of
flow in where one phase which is in the form of discrete element is dispersed or
distributed in the other continuous phase (Patel 2010) The discrete element may be
in the form of finite particles drops or bubbles There are few examples of flow that
can be used to explain dispersed phase As in the cases for gas-solid and liquid-solid
flows the discrete elements are always in the solid phase since solid particles are not
connected with each other Meanwhile the dispersed phase in gas-liquid flow is
primarily affected by the flow rates of both phases involved For instance bubbly
flow pattern is obtained as the flow rate of the gas is significantly lower than the
liquid flow rate In addition the shape or size of the dispersed phase is governed by
2
Chapter 1 Introduction
everal factors that include balance of buoyancy inertial and surface tension forces
(Corradini 1998)
Meanwhile stratified flow is a type of flow in where the two phases involved
are separated by a distinct line of contact (Patel 2010) In contrast with bubbly flow
greater flow rate of gas phase has resulted in vertical annular flow pattern in where
there is a liquid layer along the pipe wall alongside a gaseous inner core In other
words as for the cases of horizontal and vertical flows the two different streams are
separated from each other yet travel along in the same medium due to the density and
mass flowrate differences respectively (Corradini 1998)
112 Gas-Liquid Flow
Gas-liquid flow is characterized with the flow of two phases in which one of
the phases is in gaseous form while the other is in liquid form This combination of
flows in pipes has resulted in various configurations or flow patterns ranging from
bubbly flow to annular flow There are several industries that utilize the application
of gas-liquid flow which include bubble columns the generation of small droplets
for combustion in power generation system as well as the formation of droplet for
spray forming especially in materials processing
113 Gas-Solid Flow
Flow of gas phase together with suspended solid particles best described gasshy
solid flow This type of flow has been widely used to many industrial applications
which include pneumatic transport pollution control and so on For pneumatic
3
Chapter 1 Introduction
transport it is the main method of transporting solid materials According to (Crowe
2011) in vertical up-flow orientation the velocity of the gas has to be greater than
the settling velocity of the particles in order to maintain the transport
114 Liquid-Solid Flow
Liquid-solid flow involves the flow of solid particles that are carried via the
liquid phase This type of flow can be classified under dispersed phase flow due to
the dispersion of solid particles within the continuous liquid phase The discrete
elements are conveyed through the channel by the drag and pressure forces exerted
by the liquid phase (Weber 2010) The distribution of solid particles in the flow is
dependent on several factors which involve the properties of solid and carrier liquid
parameters of the channel flow direction and many others Liquid-solid fluidization
sedimentation and filtration are some typical examples of liquid-solid flow Those
mentioned applications are mostly used in the industry for the purpose of separation
115 Three-Phase Flows
Other than gas-liquid gas-solid and liquid-solid flows three-phase flow is
another example of multi phase flows that is encountered in engineering applications
An example for three-phase flow is the occurrence of bubbles in slurry which in
returns have produced three-phase flows flowing together There are not much
literature or related materials on this type of flow yet this flow is identified to be
interesting branch of study for multiphase flows
4
Pusat Khidmat MaldumatAkademil Chapter 1 Ul1lElSm tAJAVSIA SARAWA Introduction
12 Industrial Application Involving Multiphase Flow
As mentioned earlier multiphase fluid flows can be found in various
industrial processes or applications One of the most common examples is the
application of bubble column Bubble column device is where gas that is in the form
of bubbles come in contact with liquid with the main objective which is to mix the
liquid phase (Zehner and Kraume 2005) This device is commonly used as
multiphase contactors and reactors especially in chemical biochemical and
petrochemical industries since they offer several benefits during operation and
maintenance which include high heat and mass transfer rates compactness as well
as low operating and maintenance cost (Kantarci Borak and Ulgen 2004)
In bubble column the liquid may flow in either two ways which are coshy
current or counter-current to the gas flow direction An example of the simplest
bubble column is the one that consists of a vertical tube with no internals or in other
words the column is installed without any trays packings or shafts Besides for
simplest design of bubble column the gas is fed into the column at the bottom pass
through the liquid and later escaping from the upper surface If the released gas
contains high concentration of valuable reactants recycle design can be
implemented To date the simplest form of bubble column is rarely used since
numerous types of modifications are employed in order to achieve more efficient
design system
According to Kantarci et al (2004) there are three types of flow regimes that
are commonly found in bubbles columns that are bubbly flow churn-turbulent flow
and slug flow regime These flow regimes are determined according to the
superficial gas velocity applied in the column Based on the literature written by
5
Chapter 1 Introduction
previous authors bubbly flow regime is obtained at low superficial gas velocities
meanwhile churn-turbulent regime started to develop at higher superficial gas
velocities For slug flow regime it has been only conducted and observed in a smallshy
scale diameter laboratory columns at high gas flow rates (Hyndman and Larachi
1997)
13 Microchannel
Microchannel can be defined as channel with dimension that is less than 1
mm and greater than I micron (~) (Sharp et aI 2005) For other dimensions that are
above 1 mm the behaviors of the flow are observed to be the same as most
macroscopic flows Microchannel has gradually received attention due to the several
benefits offered which include high surface to volume ratio high throughput in
parallel processing reduction in the volume of sample required and many others
Greater surface to volume ratio has resulted in high rate of heat and mass transfer or
in other words enhance the heat transfer rates (Kandlikar 2012 Qian and Lawai
2006) In returns micro device has become an excellent and preferable tool for heat
exchanger
As the dimension scale is reduced to micrometric scale surface to volume
ratio has become significantly important Surface tension as well as viscous force has
dominated the system as compared to gravitational force (Ahmed-Orner and Wirth
2008) In other words the flow regimes observed for two-phase flows in
microchannel are different from the regimes mapped in larger channels (Ventakesan
et aI 2010) Surface tension is originated from the intermolecular forces in which
this forces are generally negligible at macrometric scale (Bayraktar and Pidugu
6
CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION
11 Multiphase Flow
A phase may refer to states of matter which include solid liquid and vapor
(Crowe and Michaelides 2006) Then a multiphase flow can be defined as the
simultaneous flow of a mixture of different states or phases such as gas-liquid gasshy
solid liquid-solid or gas-liquid-solid Multiphase flow specifically two-phase flows
are found in wide range of industrial applications which comprise power generation
hydrocarbon recovery and processing food manufacturing as well as in most aspects
of chemical engineering such as distillation absorption evaporation condensation
and many others As for the extraction and transportation of crude oil from the
reservoir up to the surface it involves various phases that are gas oil water and
solids Even more complex cases have been facing the industry as the formations of
hydrates and wax frequently occur in the production line
As mentioned previously there are several combinations of multi phase flows
For each combination that flows in a given channel various form of interfacial
distributions that are also called as flow patterns are observed Out of the four types
of flow that have been listed gas-liquid flow is identified as the most complex flow
due to the combination of characteristics that involve deformable interface and the
compressibility of one of the phases (Ghajar 2005 Rahman Heidrick and Fleck
Chapter 1 Introduction
2009) Besides classification of multiphase flow is not as simple as single-phase
flow since there is several other factors need to be considered in a multi scale
structured flow such as pressure drop geometry of the channel heat flux surface
tension and several others In single-phase flow the indication of flow characteristic
is basically based on the information that includes the type of flow which is either
laminar or turbulent as well as the existence of flow separation or secondary flows
In this paper an overvIew of gas-liquid flow in a circular cross section
microchannel is given Liquid and gas are mixed in the mixing chamber and entered
the multi phase micro-capillary hence produced several significance flow patterns
The flow morphologies of mixtures made of water and air produced at the
micrometer scale flowing in a channel of circular cross section are then studied
111 Dispersed Phase and Separated Flows
According to Corradini (1998) there are two basic types of flow patterns that
have been identified which are dispersed and stratified Dispersed flow is a type of
flow in where one phase which is in the form of discrete element is dispersed or
distributed in the other continuous phase (Patel 2010) The discrete element may be
in the form of finite particles drops or bubbles There are few examples of flow that
can be used to explain dispersed phase As in the cases for gas-solid and liquid-solid
flows the discrete elements are always in the solid phase since solid particles are not
connected with each other Meanwhile the dispersed phase in gas-liquid flow is
primarily affected by the flow rates of both phases involved For instance bubbly
flow pattern is obtained as the flow rate of the gas is significantly lower than the
liquid flow rate In addition the shape or size of the dispersed phase is governed by
2
Chapter 1 Introduction
everal factors that include balance of buoyancy inertial and surface tension forces
(Corradini 1998)
Meanwhile stratified flow is a type of flow in where the two phases involved
are separated by a distinct line of contact (Patel 2010) In contrast with bubbly flow
greater flow rate of gas phase has resulted in vertical annular flow pattern in where
there is a liquid layer along the pipe wall alongside a gaseous inner core In other
words as for the cases of horizontal and vertical flows the two different streams are
separated from each other yet travel along in the same medium due to the density and
mass flowrate differences respectively (Corradini 1998)
112 Gas-Liquid Flow
Gas-liquid flow is characterized with the flow of two phases in which one of
the phases is in gaseous form while the other is in liquid form This combination of
flows in pipes has resulted in various configurations or flow patterns ranging from
bubbly flow to annular flow There are several industries that utilize the application
of gas-liquid flow which include bubble columns the generation of small droplets
for combustion in power generation system as well as the formation of droplet for
spray forming especially in materials processing
113 Gas-Solid Flow
Flow of gas phase together with suspended solid particles best described gasshy
solid flow This type of flow has been widely used to many industrial applications
which include pneumatic transport pollution control and so on For pneumatic
3
Chapter 1 Introduction
transport it is the main method of transporting solid materials According to (Crowe
2011) in vertical up-flow orientation the velocity of the gas has to be greater than
the settling velocity of the particles in order to maintain the transport
114 Liquid-Solid Flow
Liquid-solid flow involves the flow of solid particles that are carried via the
liquid phase This type of flow can be classified under dispersed phase flow due to
the dispersion of solid particles within the continuous liquid phase The discrete
elements are conveyed through the channel by the drag and pressure forces exerted
by the liquid phase (Weber 2010) The distribution of solid particles in the flow is
dependent on several factors which involve the properties of solid and carrier liquid
parameters of the channel flow direction and many others Liquid-solid fluidization
sedimentation and filtration are some typical examples of liquid-solid flow Those
mentioned applications are mostly used in the industry for the purpose of separation
115 Three-Phase Flows
Other than gas-liquid gas-solid and liquid-solid flows three-phase flow is
another example of multi phase flows that is encountered in engineering applications
An example for three-phase flow is the occurrence of bubbles in slurry which in
returns have produced three-phase flows flowing together There are not much
literature or related materials on this type of flow yet this flow is identified to be
interesting branch of study for multiphase flows
4
Pusat Khidmat MaldumatAkademil Chapter 1 Ul1lElSm tAJAVSIA SARAWA Introduction
12 Industrial Application Involving Multiphase Flow
As mentioned earlier multiphase fluid flows can be found in various
industrial processes or applications One of the most common examples is the
application of bubble column Bubble column device is where gas that is in the form
of bubbles come in contact with liquid with the main objective which is to mix the
liquid phase (Zehner and Kraume 2005) This device is commonly used as
multiphase contactors and reactors especially in chemical biochemical and
petrochemical industries since they offer several benefits during operation and
maintenance which include high heat and mass transfer rates compactness as well
as low operating and maintenance cost (Kantarci Borak and Ulgen 2004)
In bubble column the liquid may flow in either two ways which are coshy
current or counter-current to the gas flow direction An example of the simplest
bubble column is the one that consists of a vertical tube with no internals or in other
words the column is installed without any trays packings or shafts Besides for
simplest design of bubble column the gas is fed into the column at the bottom pass
through the liquid and later escaping from the upper surface If the released gas
contains high concentration of valuable reactants recycle design can be
implemented To date the simplest form of bubble column is rarely used since
numerous types of modifications are employed in order to achieve more efficient
design system
According to Kantarci et al (2004) there are three types of flow regimes that
are commonly found in bubbles columns that are bubbly flow churn-turbulent flow
and slug flow regime These flow regimes are determined according to the
superficial gas velocity applied in the column Based on the literature written by
5
Chapter 1 Introduction
previous authors bubbly flow regime is obtained at low superficial gas velocities
meanwhile churn-turbulent regime started to develop at higher superficial gas
velocities For slug flow regime it has been only conducted and observed in a smallshy
scale diameter laboratory columns at high gas flow rates (Hyndman and Larachi
1997)
13 Microchannel
Microchannel can be defined as channel with dimension that is less than 1
mm and greater than I micron (~) (Sharp et aI 2005) For other dimensions that are
above 1 mm the behaviors of the flow are observed to be the same as most
macroscopic flows Microchannel has gradually received attention due to the several
benefits offered which include high surface to volume ratio high throughput in
parallel processing reduction in the volume of sample required and many others
Greater surface to volume ratio has resulted in high rate of heat and mass transfer or
in other words enhance the heat transfer rates (Kandlikar 2012 Qian and Lawai
2006) In returns micro device has become an excellent and preferable tool for heat
exchanger
As the dimension scale is reduced to micrometric scale surface to volume
ratio has become significantly important Surface tension as well as viscous force has
dominated the system as compared to gravitational force (Ahmed-Orner and Wirth
2008) In other words the flow regimes observed for two-phase flows in
microchannel are different from the regimes mapped in larger channels (Ventakesan
et aI 2010) Surface tension is originated from the intermolecular forces in which
this forces are generally negligible at macrometric scale (Bayraktar and Pidugu
6
Chapter 1 Introduction
2009) Besides classification of multiphase flow is not as simple as single-phase
flow since there is several other factors need to be considered in a multi scale
structured flow such as pressure drop geometry of the channel heat flux surface
tension and several others In single-phase flow the indication of flow characteristic
is basically based on the information that includes the type of flow which is either
laminar or turbulent as well as the existence of flow separation or secondary flows
In this paper an overvIew of gas-liquid flow in a circular cross section
microchannel is given Liquid and gas are mixed in the mixing chamber and entered
the multi phase micro-capillary hence produced several significance flow patterns
The flow morphologies of mixtures made of water and air produced at the
micrometer scale flowing in a channel of circular cross section are then studied
111 Dispersed Phase and Separated Flows
According to Corradini (1998) there are two basic types of flow patterns that
have been identified which are dispersed and stratified Dispersed flow is a type of
flow in where one phase which is in the form of discrete element is dispersed or
distributed in the other continuous phase (Patel 2010) The discrete element may be
in the form of finite particles drops or bubbles There are few examples of flow that
can be used to explain dispersed phase As in the cases for gas-solid and liquid-solid
flows the discrete elements are always in the solid phase since solid particles are not
connected with each other Meanwhile the dispersed phase in gas-liquid flow is
primarily affected by the flow rates of both phases involved For instance bubbly
flow pattern is obtained as the flow rate of the gas is significantly lower than the
liquid flow rate In addition the shape or size of the dispersed phase is governed by
2
Chapter 1 Introduction
everal factors that include balance of buoyancy inertial and surface tension forces
(Corradini 1998)
Meanwhile stratified flow is a type of flow in where the two phases involved
are separated by a distinct line of contact (Patel 2010) In contrast with bubbly flow
greater flow rate of gas phase has resulted in vertical annular flow pattern in where
there is a liquid layer along the pipe wall alongside a gaseous inner core In other
words as for the cases of horizontal and vertical flows the two different streams are
separated from each other yet travel along in the same medium due to the density and
mass flowrate differences respectively (Corradini 1998)
112 Gas-Liquid Flow
Gas-liquid flow is characterized with the flow of two phases in which one of
the phases is in gaseous form while the other is in liquid form This combination of
flows in pipes has resulted in various configurations or flow patterns ranging from
bubbly flow to annular flow There are several industries that utilize the application
of gas-liquid flow which include bubble columns the generation of small droplets
for combustion in power generation system as well as the formation of droplet for
spray forming especially in materials processing
113 Gas-Solid Flow
Flow of gas phase together with suspended solid particles best described gasshy
solid flow This type of flow has been widely used to many industrial applications
which include pneumatic transport pollution control and so on For pneumatic
3
Chapter 1 Introduction
transport it is the main method of transporting solid materials According to (Crowe
2011) in vertical up-flow orientation the velocity of the gas has to be greater than
the settling velocity of the particles in order to maintain the transport
114 Liquid-Solid Flow
Liquid-solid flow involves the flow of solid particles that are carried via the
liquid phase This type of flow can be classified under dispersed phase flow due to
the dispersion of solid particles within the continuous liquid phase The discrete
elements are conveyed through the channel by the drag and pressure forces exerted
by the liquid phase (Weber 2010) The distribution of solid particles in the flow is
dependent on several factors which involve the properties of solid and carrier liquid
parameters of the channel flow direction and many others Liquid-solid fluidization
sedimentation and filtration are some typical examples of liquid-solid flow Those
mentioned applications are mostly used in the industry for the purpose of separation
115 Three-Phase Flows
Other than gas-liquid gas-solid and liquid-solid flows three-phase flow is
another example of multi phase flows that is encountered in engineering applications
An example for three-phase flow is the occurrence of bubbles in slurry which in
returns have produced three-phase flows flowing together There are not much
literature or related materials on this type of flow yet this flow is identified to be
interesting branch of study for multiphase flows
4
Pusat Khidmat MaldumatAkademil Chapter 1 Ul1lElSm tAJAVSIA SARAWA Introduction
12 Industrial Application Involving Multiphase Flow
As mentioned earlier multiphase fluid flows can be found in various
industrial processes or applications One of the most common examples is the
application of bubble column Bubble column device is where gas that is in the form
of bubbles come in contact with liquid with the main objective which is to mix the
liquid phase (Zehner and Kraume 2005) This device is commonly used as
multiphase contactors and reactors especially in chemical biochemical and
petrochemical industries since they offer several benefits during operation and
maintenance which include high heat and mass transfer rates compactness as well
as low operating and maintenance cost (Kantarci Borak and Ulgen 2004)
In bubble column the liquid may flow in either two ways which are coshy
current or counter-current to the gas flow direction An example of the simplest
bubble column is the one that consists of a vertical tube with no internals or in other
words the column is installed without any trays packings or shafts Besides for
simplest design of bubble column the gas is fed into the column at the bottom pass
through the liquid and later escaping from the upper surface If the released gas
contains high concentration of valuable reactants recycle design can be
implemented To date the simplest form of bubble column is rarely used since
numerous types of modifications are employed in order to achieve more efficient
design system
According to Kantarci et al (2004) there are three types of flow regimes that
are commonly found in bubbles columns that are bubbly flow churn-turbulent flow
and slug flow regime These flow regimes are determined according to the
superficial gas velocity applied in the column Based on the literature written by
5
Chapter 1 Introduction
previous authors bubbly flow regime is obtained at low superficial gas velocities
meanwhile churn-turbulent regime started to develop at higher superficial gas
velocities For slug flow regime it has been only conducted and observed in a smallshy
scale diameter laboratory columns at high gas flow rates (Hyndman and Larachi
1997)
13 Microchannel
Microchannel can be defined as channel with dimension that is less than 1
mm and greater than I micron (~) (Sharp et aI 2005) For other dimensions that are
above 1 mm the behaviors of the flow are observed to be the same as most
macroscopic flows Microchannel has gradually received attention due to the several
benefits offered which include high surface to volume ratio high throughput in
parallel processing reduction in the volume of sample required and many others
Greater surface to volume ratio has resulted in high rate of heat and mass transfer or
in other words enhance the heat transfer rates (Kandlikar 2012 Qian and Lawai
2006) In returns micro device has become an excellent and preferable tool for heat
exchanger
As the dimension scale is reduced to micrometric scale surface to volume
ratio has become significantly important Surface tension as well as viscous force has
dominated the system as compared to gravitational force (Ahmed-Orner and Wirth
2008) In other words the flow regimes observed for two-phase flows in
microchannel are different from the regimes mapped in larger channels (Ventakesan
et aI 2010) Surface tension is originated from the intermolecular forces in which
this forces are generally negligible at macrometric scale (Bayraktar and Pidugu
6
Chapter 1 Introduction
everal factors that include balance of buoyancy inertial and surface tension forces
(Corradini 1998)
Meanwhile stratified flow is a type of flow in where the two phases involved
are separated by a distinct line of contact (Patel 2010) In contrast with bubbly flow
greater flow rate of gas phase has resulted in vertical annular flow pattern in where
there is a liquid layer along the pipe wall alongside a gaseous inner core In other
words as for the cases of horizontal and vertical flows the two different streams are
separated from each other yet travel along in the same medium due to the density and
mass flowrate differences respectively (Corradini 1998)
112 Gas-Liquid Flow
Gas-liquid flow is characterized with the flow of two phases in which one of
the phases is in gaseous form while the other is in liquid form This combination of
flows in pipes has resulted in various configurations or flow patterns ranging from
bubbly flow to annular flow There are several industries that utilize the application
of gas-liquid flow which include bubble columns the generation of small droplets
for combustion in power generation system as well as the formation of droplet for
spray forming especially in materials processing
113 Gas-Solid Flow
Flow of gas phase together with suspended solid particles best described gasshy
solid flow This type of flow has been widely used to many industrial applications
which include pneumatic transport pollution control and so on For pneumatic
3
Chapter 1 Introduction
transport it is the main method of transporting solid materials According to (Crowe
2011) in vertical up-flow orientation the velocity of the gas has to be greater than
the settling velocity of the particles in order to maintain the transport
114 Liquid-Solid Flow
Liquid-solid flow involves the flow of solid particles that are carried via the
liquid phase This type of flow can be classified under dispersed phase flow due to
the dispersion of solid particles within the continuous liquid phase The discrete
elements are conveyed through the channel by the drag and pressure forces exerted
by the liquid phase (Weber 2010) The distribution of solid particles in the flow is
dependent on several factors which involve the properties of solid and carrier liquid
parameters of the channel flow direction and many others Liquid-solid fluidization
sedimentation and filtration are some typical examples of liquid-solid flow Those
mentioned applications are mostly used in the industry for the purpose of separation
115 Three-Phase Flows
Other than gas-liquid gas-solid and liquid-solid flows three-phase flow is
another example of multi phase flows that is encountered in engineering applications
An example for three-phase flow is the occurrence of bubbles in slurry which in
returns have produced three-phase flows flowing together There are not much
literature or related materials on this type of flow yet this flow is identified to be
interesting branch of study for multiphase flows
4
Pusat Khidmat MaldumatAkademil Chapter 1 Ul1lElSm tAJAVSIA SARAWA Introduction
12 Industrial Application Involving Multiphase Flow
As mentioned earlier multiphase fluid flows can be found in various
industrial processes or applications One of the most common examples is the
application of bubble column Bubble column device is where gas that is in the form
of bubbles come in contact with liquid with the main objective which is to mix the
liquid phase (Zehner and Kraume 2005) This device is commonly used as
multiphase contactors and reactors especially in chemical biochemical and
petrochemical industries since they offer several benefits during operation and
maintenance which include high heat and mass transfer rates compactness as well
as low operating and maintenance cost (Kantarci Borak and Ulgen 2004)
In bubble column the liquid may flow in either two ways which are coshy
current or counter-current to the gas flow direction An example of the simplest
bubble column is the one that consists of a vertical tube with no internals or in other
words the column is installed without any trays packings or shafts Besides for
simplest design of bubble column the gas is fed into the column at the bottom pass
through the liquid and later escaping from the upper surface If the released gas
contains high concentration of valuable reactants recycle design can be
implemented To date the simplest form of bubble column is rarely used since
numerous types of modifications are employed in order to achieve more efficient
design system
According to Kantarci et al (2004) there are three types of flow regimes that
are commonly found in bubbles columns that are bubbly flow churn-turbulent flow
and slug flow regime These flow regimes are determined according to the
superficial gas velocity applied in the column Based on the literature written by
5
Chapter 1 Introduction
previous authors bubbly flow regime is obtained at low superficial gas velocities
meanwhile churn-turbulent regime started to develop at higher superficial gas
velocities For slug flow regime it has been only conducted and observed in a smallshy
scale diameter laboratory columns at high gas flow rates (Hyndman and Larachi
1997)
13 Microchannel
Microchannel can be defined as channel with dimension that is less than 1
mm and greater than I micron (~) (Sharp et aI 2005) For other dimensions that are
above 1 mm the behaviors of the flow are observed to be the same as most
macroscopic flows Microchannel has gradually received attention due to the several
benefits offered which include high surface to volume ratio high throughput in
parallel processing reduction in the volume of sample required and many others
Greater surface to volume ratio has resulted in high rate of heat and mass transfer or
in other words enhance the heat transfer rates (Kandlikar 2012 Qian and Lawai
2006) In returns micro device has become an excellent and preferable tool for heat
exchanger
As the dimension scale is reduced to micrometric scale surface to volume
ratio has become significantly important Surface tension as well as viscous force has
dominated the system as compared to gravitational force (Ahmed-Orner and Wirth
2008) In other words the flow regimes observed for two-phase flows in
microchannel are different from the regimes mapped in larger channels (Ventakesan
et aI 2010) Surface tension is originated from the intermolecular forces in which
this forces are generally negligible at macrometric scale (Bayraktar and Pidugu
6
Chapter 1 Introduction
transport it is the main method of transporting solid materials According to (Crowe
2011) in vertical up-flow orientation the velocity of the gas has to be greater than
the settling velocity of the particles in order to maintain the transport
114 Liquid-Solid Flow
Liquid-solid flow involves the flow of solid particles that are carried via the
liquid phase This type of flow can be classified under dispersed phase flow due to
the dispersion of solid particles within the continuous liquid phase The discrete
elements are conveyed through the channel by the drag and pressure forces exerted
by the liquid phase (Weber 2010) The distribution of solid particles in the flow is
dependent on several factors which involve the properties of solid and carrier liquid
parameters of the channel flow direction and many others Liquid-solid fluidization
sedimentation and filtration are some typical examples of liquid-solid flow Those
mentioned applications are mostly used in the industry for the purpose of separation
115 Three-Phase Flows
Other than gas-liquid gas-solid and liquid-solid flows three-phase flow is
another example of multi phase flows that is encountered in engineering applications
An example for three-phase flow is the occurrence of bubbles in slurry which in
returns have produced three-phase flows flowing together There are not much
literature or related materials on this type of flow yet this flow is identified to be
interesting branch of study for multiphase flows
4
Pusat Khidmat MaldumatAkademil Chapter 1 Ul1lElSm tAJAVSIA SARAWA Introduction
12 Industrial Application Involving Multiphase Flow
As mentioned earlier multiphase fluid flows can be found in various
industrial processes or applications One of the most common examples is the
application of bubble column Bubble column device is where gas that is in the form
of bubbles come in contact with liquid with the main objective which is to mix the
liquid phase (Zehner and Kraume 2005) This device is commonly used as
multiphase contactors and reactors especially in chemical biochemical and
petrochemical industries since they offer several benefits during operation and
maintenance which include high heat and mass transfer rates compactness as well
as low operating and maintenance cost (Kantarci Borak and Ulgen 2004)
In bubble column the liquid may flow in either two ways which are coshy
current or counter-current to the gas flow direction An example of the simplest
bubble column is the one that consists of a vertical tube with no internals or in other
words the column is installed without any trays packings or shafts Besides for
simplest design of bubble column the gas is fed into the column at the bottom pass
through the liquid and later escaping from the upper surface If the released gas
contains high concentration of valuable reactants recycle design can be
implemented To date the simplest form of bubble column is rarely used since
numerous types of modifications are employed in order to achieve more efficient
design system
According to Kantarci et al (2004) there are three types of flow regimes that
are commonly found in bubbles columns that are bubbly flow churn-turbulent flow
and slug flow regime These flow regimes are determined according to the
superficial gas velocity applied in the column Based on the literature written by
5
Chapter 1 Introduction
previous authors bubbly flow regime is obtained at low superficial gas velocities
meanwhile churn-turbulent regime started to develop at higher superficial gas
velocities For slug flow regime it has been only conducted and observed in a smallshy
scale diameter laboratory columns at high gas flow rates (Hyndman and Larachi
1997)
13 Microchannel
Microchannel can be defined as channel with dimension that is less than 1
mm and greater than I micron (~) (Sharp et aI 2005) For other dimensions that are
above 1 mm the behaviors of the flow are observed to be the same as most
macroscopic flows Microchannel has gradually received attention due to the several
benefits offered which include high surface to volume ratio high throughput in
parallel processing reduction in the volume of sample required and many others
Greater surface to volume ratio has resulted in high rate of heat and mass transfer or
in other words enhance the heat transfer rates (Kandlikar 2012 Qian and Lawai
2006) In returns micro device has become an excellent and preferable tool for heat
exchanger
As the dimension scale is reduced to micrometric scale surface to volume
ratio has become significantly important Surface tension as well as viscous force has
dominated the system as compared to gravitational force (Ahmed-Orner and Wirth
2008) In other words the flow regimes observed for two-phase flows in
microchannel are different from the regimes mapped in larger channels (Ventakesan
et aI 2010) Surface tension is originated from the intermolecular forces in which
this forces are generally negligible at macrometric scale (Bayraktar and Pidugu
6
Pusat Khidmat MaldumatAkademil Chapter 1 Ul1lElSm tAJAVSIA SARAWA Introduction
12 Industrial Application Involving Multiphase Flow
As mentioned earlier multiphase fluid flows can be found in various
industrial processes or applications One of the most common examples is the
application of bubble column Bubble column device is where gas that is in the form
of bubbles come in contact with liquid with the main objective which is to mix the
liquid phase (Zehner and Kraume 2005) This device is commonly used as
multiphase contactors and reactors especially in chemical biochemical and
petrochemical industries since they offer several benefits during operation and
maintenance which include high heat and mass transfer rates compactness as well
as low operating and maintenance cost (Kantarci Borak and Ulgen 2004)
In bubble column the liquid may flow in either two ways which are coshy
current or counter-current to the gas flow direction An example of the simplest
bubble column is the one that consists of a vertical tube with no internals or in other
words the column is installed without any trays packings or shafts Besides for
simplest design of bubble column the gas is fed into the column at the bottom pass
through the liquid and later escaping from the upper surface If the released gas
contains high concentration of valuable reactants recycle design can be
implemented To date the simplest form of bubble column is rarely used since
numerous types of modifications are employed in order to achieve more efficient
design system
According to Kantarci et al (2004) there are three types of flow regimes that
are commonly found in bubbles columns that are bubbly flow churn-turbulent flow
and slug flow regime These flow regimes are determined according to the
superficial gas velocity applied in the column Based on the literature written by
5
Chapter 1 Introduction
previous authors bubbly flow regime is obtained at low superficial gas velocities
meanwhile churn-turbulent regime started to develop at higher superficial gas
velocities For slug flow regime it has been only conducted and observed in a smallshy
scale diameter laboratory columns at high gas flow rates (Hyndman and Larachi
1997)
13 Microchannel
Microchannel can be defined as channel with dimension that is less than 1
mm and greater than I micron (~) (Sharp et aI 2005) For other dimensions that are
above 1 mm the behaviors of the flow are observed to be the same as most
macroscopic flows Microchannel has gradually received attention due to the several
benefits offered which include high surface to volume ratio high throughput in
parallel processing reduction in the volume of sample required and many others
Greater surface to volume ratio has resulted in high rate of heat and mass transfer or
in other words enhance the heat transfer rates (Kandlikar 2012 Qian and Lawai
2006) In returns micro device has become an excellent and preferable tool for heat
exchanger
As the dimension scale is reduced to micrometric scale surface to volume
ratio has become significantly important Surface tension as well as viscous force has
dominated the system as compared to gravitational force (Ahmed-Orner and Wirth
2008) In other words the flow regimes observed for two-phase flows in
microchannel are different from the regimes mapped in larger channels (Ventakesan
et aI 2010) Surface tension is originated from the intermolecular forces in which
this forces are generally negligible at macrometric scale (Bayraktar and Pidugu
6
Chapter 1 Introduction
previous authors bubbly flow regime is obtained at low superficial gas velocities
meanwhile churn-turbulent regime started to develop at higher superficial gas
velocities For slug flow regime it has been only conducted and observed in a smallshy
scale diameter laboratory columns at high gas flow rates (Hyndman and Larachi
1997)
13 Microchannel
Microchannel can be defined as channel with dimension that is less than 1
mm and greater than I micron (~) (Sharp et aI 2005) For other dimensions that are
above 1 mm the behaviors of the flow are observed to be the same as most
macroscopic flows Microchannel has gradually received attention due to the several
benefits offered which include high surface to volume ratio high throughput in
parallel processing reduction in the volume of sample required and many others
Greater surface to volume ratio has resulted in high rate of heat and mass transfer or
in other words enhance the heat transfer rates (Kandlikar 2012 Qian and Lawai
2006) In returns micro device has become an excellent and preferable tool for heat
exchanger
As the dimension scale is reduced to micrometric scale surface to volume
ratio has become significantly important Surface tension as well as viscous force has
dominated the system as compared to gravitational force (Ahmed-Orner and Wirth
2008) In other words the flow regimes observed for two-phase flows in
microchannel are different from the regimes mapped in larger channels (Ventakesan
et aI 2010) Surface tension is originated from the intermolecular forces in which
this forces are generally negligible at macrometric scale (Bayraktar and Pidugu
6