(237t) Flow Patterns of Gas-Liquid Cocurrent Downward Flow through an Orifice Plate | AIChE

(237t) Flow Patterns of Gas-Liquid Cocurrent Downward Flow through an Orifice Plate

Authors 

Qiao, M. - Presenter, Sichuan University
Huang, W., Sichuan University
Li, J., Sichuan University
Deng, C., Sichuan University
Xue, Y., Sichuan University
The hydrodynamic behavior of gas-liquid cocurrent downward flow through an orifice plate is essential to comprehend the hydraulics of a stacked sieve-plate packing tower. Particularly, estimating whether there is dispersed flow is significant for the heat and mass transfer performance of the tower. This work aims at identifying the flow patterns downstream the orifice and the most relative factors influencing the flow patterns. Experiments were conducted by means of observation with the gas and liquid superficial mass flux of 6.02-41.16 kg/m2/s and 31.85-307.29 kg/m2/s, respectively. Three orifice plates with equivalent diameter ratio between 0.031 and 0.073, relative thickness between 0.07 and 0.17 were used. Experimental results show that there are three flow patterns, namely, trickling flow, continuous flow and semi-dispersed flow at different operating conditions. At low gas flowrate, the flow regime occurs to transform from trickling flow to continuous flow with the increasing of liquid flowrate. At fixed liquid flowrate, the flow regime occurs to transform from continuous/trickling flow to semi-dispersed flow with the increasing of gas flowrate. What’s more, the gas flowrate with which to form semi-dispersed flow decreases with the increasing of liquid flowrate. Besides, with the increasing of the hole-diameter, the semi-dispersed flow becomes easier to obtain. On the contrary, with the increasing of the kinetic viscosity of the liquid phase, the semi-dispersed flow becomes more difficult to obtain. Then, the flow pattern maps which is a plot of gas superficial mass flux vs. liquid superficial mass flux were plotted. Finally, a correlation was presented to estimate the gas superficial mass flux required to form semi-dispersed flow, showing a satisfactory agreement with experimental data. Therefore, the proposed correlation can provide useful guidelines for the analysis and operation of stacked sieve-plate packing tower.

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