Vertically Downward Two-Phase Flow, (II)

Following Part (I) of the present paper, which presented the experimental results obtained on the void distribution and average void fraction shown by nearly fully-developed, vertically downward two-phase flow of air-water mixture, this Part (?) covers the flow regime transition criteria among the three basic flow regimes : bubbly, slug and annular flows. The annular flow further was divided into two subregions of falling film flow and annular drop flow. The general situation of the transition criteria is as follows : (1) bubbly-to-slug flow transition occurs when the local void fraction in the central region of the tube is 0.3; (2) slug-to-annular drop flow transition criterion is given as a case which equations giving average void fraction for the slug flow and the annular flow are simultaneously satisfied; (3) slug-to-falling film flow transition occurs when the pressure difference between the crest of large wave and the bottom overcomes the surface tension; (4) the occurrence of liquid droplets from wave crests gives the transition criterion between the falling film flow and the annular drop flow.

These criteria were correlated to predict each flow regime boundary respectively considering flow mechanisms or from experimental results. The correlations obtained were compared with published flow regime maps for atmospheric air-water flow and showed satisfactory agreement.