Heat transfer in upward flowing two-phase gas-liquid mixtures. An experimental study of heat transfer in two-phase gas-liquid mixtures flowing upwards in a vertical tube with liquid phase being driven by a pump or air injection.

Abstract

An experimental investigation has been carried out to study the heat transfer in a two-phase two-component mixture flowing upward inside a 1" double pipe heat exchanger. The heat transfer coefficient was measured using either air to lift the liquid (air-lift system) or a mechanical pump. The heat transfer coefficient results have been extensively studied and compared with other workers' results. An attempt was made to correlate the present heat transfer data in dimensionless correlations. Possible factors affecting the two-phase heat transfer coefficient have been studied with special attention being given to the fluid properties, particularly the liquid viscosity. Experiments were also carried out to investigate the effect of solid particles added to a liquid flow on the measured heat transfer coefficient. The present investigation was carried out using air as the gas-phase ranging from 2x 10-5 up to 80 x 10-5 m3/s. Liquids used were water and glycerol solutions with viscosity ranging from 0.75 up to 5.0 C. P. and flowrates between 4x 10-5 and 25 x 10-5 m3/s. Void fraction and pressure drop were also measured during the heat transfer process. Flow pattern in gas-liquid mixture was investigated in a perspex tube of identical dimensions to the heat exchanger tube.