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Drop sizes in annular gas‐liquid flows
Author(s) -
Tatterson David F.,
Dallman John C.,
Hanratty Thomas J.
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
aiche journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.958
H-Index - 167
eISSN - 1547-5905
pISSN - 0001-1541
DOI - 10.1002/aic.690230112
Subject(s) - mechanics , drop (telecommunication) , pressure drop , chemistry , wavelet , thermodynamics , liquid flow , volume (thermodynamics) , materials science , physics , telecommunications , artificial intelligence , computer science
The droplets that appear in annular gas‐liquid flows are formed by the eruption of wavelets from the surface of the wall layer. Ninety per cent of the volume of this dispersed liquid is carried by only about 10% of the drops. We find, as suggested by Wicks and Dukler, that the distribution of drop sizes can be characterized by an upper limit, log normal function with only one of the three parameters, the volume median diameter, a strong function of flow conditions. A method for predicting the average diameter is suggested which is consistent with a theoretical interpretation based on a Kelvin‐Helmholtz mechanism, whereby the destabilizing force is the pressure variation over the wavelets.