A numerical model of slug flow in vertical tubes

Abstract This paper presents a numerical method for the determination of the flow field structure in slug flow in vertical tubes. The method is based on the ensemble averaged transport equations governing the flow of the liquid around the Taylor bubble and in the slug, which together comprise one slug unit. Turbulence is accounted for by the k -ϵ model. An iterative scheme is used to compute the shape and velocity of the Taylor bubble simultaneously with the flow field; the conditions which are taken to determine these quantities are uniform bubble pressure and smoothness of the bubble nose. The equations are discretised using a finite volume technique on a block structured, non-orthogonal mesh which conforms to the flow domain boundary. The predicted velocities of a single Taylor bubble rising in both stagnant and moving liquid agree very well with experimental data. For a train of Taylor bubbles in periodic slug flow, the computed bubble rise velocity and pressure gradient agree well with the data provided that account is taken of the presence of dispersed gas in the liquid slug.

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