Hydrodynamics of gas-liquid slug flow in capillaries: Comparing theory and experiment

The hydrodynamics of slug flow in a horizontal capillary with a diameter of 0.92 mm is experimentally studied using water-air and aqueous glycerol solution-air systems. The experimental data (the velocity of bubbles, the volume fraction of the gas, the relative length of bubbles, and the pressure drop) are compared with the results of calculation by the previously constructed mathematical model of the slug flow of a gas-liquid mixture in capillaries. The developed model is in satisfactory agreement with experimental data in the range of capillary numbers from 0.05 to 0.12.