Ministry of Higher Education &scientific

Research
Mustansiriyah University
College of Engineering
Mechanical Engineering Department

Flow patterns of liquid-vapor (gas)

two-phase flow

(Section 2)

Asst. Prof. Dr. Hayder Mohammad Jaffal

Description of Flow Patterns in Vertical Tubes

Co-current upflow and downflow of gas (or vapor) and liquid in a vertical tube is
characterized by recognizable flow structures and these “geometries” are used
to classify the flows into a number of two-phase flow regimes or flow patterns.
While many different names can be found in the literature, the most commonly
accepted vertical channel regimes are referred to as: bubbly flow, slug flow,
churn flow, annular flow and mist flow. These are depicted schematically in Fig.
2. The individual flow patterns are described as follows:

Bubbly flow
In this regime, a large number of small bubbles, notably smaller than the
channel diameter, are observed in the continuous liquid phase. The bubbles
may vary widely in size and shape but they are typically rather densely
packed and flowing side-by-side and one after another, creating a very complex
flow. These bubbles interact with one another: colliding, coalescing, breaking
up, etc. During evaporation, this regime is normally the first one encountered
by the flow in the range of vapor qualities greater than or equal to 0.0. In fact,
bubbly flow is often already occurring in subcooled boiling before the fluid
reaches its saturation conditions.
Slug flow
This regime is characterized by large bubbles that span nearly the entire
channel cross-section and are separated by distinct liquid slugs, the latter giving
this regime its name. These bubbles have a cylindrical shape with a
hemispherical nose and a blunt fluctuating tail; they are commonly referred to
as Taylor bubbles after the instability of that name. The bubbles are typically
about 1.5 to 3.0 times longer in length than the tube diameter. The flow of
these long bubbles trap a thin liquid film between themselves and the tube wall,
which often flows downward due to the force of gravity, even when the net flow
of fluid is upward in vertical up flow. The liquid slugs in between these long
bubbles often include some small bubbles, remaining from the prior bubbly flow
regime or created by vapor breaking off from the tails of the long bubbles.
Churn flow
This regime is a very chaotic fluctuating type of flow that is passed through
during the transition from a stable slug flow to a stable annular flow.
Essentially, the tails of the elongated bubbles begin to break up and create
large voids in the liquid slugs, which in turn become unstable themselves, and
which then in turn destabilize the noses of the trailing bubbles. Additionally, the
liquid film trapped between the long bubble and the wall may also become
unstable when a relative parity of the gravity and shear forces acting in
opposing directions on the thin liquid film is reached in vertical upward flow.
Churn flow is typically to be avoided in two-phase piping, because of the
pressure and flow oscillations that it induces. Some flow pattern maps treat this
regime as part of the transition region between slug flow and annular flow (in
some ways analogous to that between a laminar and turbulent flow in single-
phase flow) and hence do not cite it as a flow pattern.
wispy annular flow
At high liquid flow rate, the concentration of the liquid drops in vapor (gas) core
increases. The merging of these liquid droplets can lead to large lumps, breaks,
or wisps of liquid in gas core. This description, of course, fits annular flow also,
but the ‘wispy annular’ regime was characterized by the nature of the entrained
phase.
Annular flow
This regime is named after the continuous annular liquid film that flows on the
internal perimeter of the channel with a higher velocity gas (or vapor) core in
the center. The interface of the annular liquid film is disturbed by high
frequency waves and ripples. In addition, liquid droplets are usually entrained in
the gas core and small bubbles may be trapped in the annular film by roll
waves. This flow regime is particularly stable and is the desired flow pattern in
piping and at the exit of evaporator tubes. When the flow depicts entrained
droplets traveling in periodic coherent structures as clouds or wisps of liquid in
the central vapor core, some flow pattern maps refer to this as wispy annular
flow, but in general this is treaded for all practical purposes as an annular flow.
Spray Flow (Mist flow)
A mist flow has the gas (or vapor) as the continuous phase and numerous very
small droplets entrained in it, whose presence can often be difficult to observe
without the help of illumination and/or magnification. Mist flow is encountered
at high vapor qualities at the point where the annular film is thinned by the
shear of the gas core on the interface until it becomes unstable, such that all
the liquid is entrained as droplets in the continuous gas phase, or during flow
boiling when the critical heat flux has been surpassed. Impinging liquid droplets
intermittently wet the tube wall locally but heat transfer is significantly
decreased with respect to an annular flow.

Flow patterns in vertical down flows look similar to those in vertical up flows,
although there are some exceptions. For instance, at low flow rates in the slug
flow regime the nose of the bubble may be flat (due to the buoyancy forces
acting opposite to the surface tension) and the tail of the bubble may be round
(for the same reason). In annular down flows, the flow may also appear to be
simply a falling film, since in this case the interfacial shear and gravity forces
work together in the same direction.
Figure (2a): Two-phase flow patterns in vertical upflow
Figure (2b): Flow regimes in vertical evaporator tubes
The main flow regimes in vertical tubes are shown in the table. It must
be noted values of flow quality and flow rate are dependent on the
fluid and pressure. In horizontal tubes, there can also be stratified flow
(especially at low flow rates), at which the two phases separate under the
effect of gravity.

Table (1) Basic flow patterns in vertical tubes.

Adiabatic Flow Pattern Maps for Vertical Tubes

Hewitt and Roberts (1969) proposed another widely quoted map using the
square of mass flux of the gas flow as the vertical axis and the square of
mass flux of the liquid flow as the horizontal axis, divided by their respective
densities, as shown in Fig. 3. They divided their flow observations into
bubbly, bubbly slug/slug, churn, annular and wispy annular regions. The
mass fluxes of the liquid GL and gas (or vapor) GGare calculated using the
local vapor quality x, the values of the x and y coordinates are determined,
and the intersection of the two values on the map identifies the flow pattern
predicted to exist. The mass flux of the liquid GL and the mass flux of the
gas (or vapor) GG are defined respectively as:
 where G is the total mass flux of the liquid and vapor, i.e. the total mass
flow rate divided by the channel flow area. In general, other researchers do
not divide annular flow into two parts, and hence this map’s wispy annular
flow regime is usually treated as an annular flow. Furthermore, in this map
there is no distinct line to divide slug flow and bubbly-slug flow, and hence
these are grouped together into one regime, making it difficult to compare
this map’s transition boundaries versus other maps, such as that of Fair
(1960), which itself does not have a churn flow regime.
Figure (3): Two-phase flow pattern map of Hewitt and Roberts
(1969) for vertical tubes.
Description of Flow Patterns in Horizontal Tubes

In fact, two-phase flow patterns in horizontal tubes are similar to those in

vertical flows except for flow stratification effects. In a horizontal two-phase
flow, the liquid and vapor tend to separate due to buoyancy forces: liquid
towards the bottom of the tube and the gas towards the top. At sufficiently high
flow rates the buoyancy influence becomes negligible and the flows become
very similar to vertical flows. Flow patterns for co-current flow of gas and liquid
in a horizontal tube are shown in Fig. 4. The individual flow patterns are
described as follows:

Bubbly flow
The numerous small gas bubbles are dispersed in the continuous liquid-phase,
however the bubbles tend to the upper half of the tube due to their buoyancy.
When shear forces are dominant at high liquid flow rates, the bubbles tend to
disperse uniformly in the tube. In horizontal flows, the bubbly flow regime is
typically only seen at high mass flow rates since at lower flow rates the
numerous bubbles in the upper half tend to quickly coalesce into a few large
long bubbles (that is, plug flow in the intermittent regime described below).
Stratified flow
When the buoyancy forces are completely dominant at low liquid and gas
velocities, complete segregation of the two phases occurs: the gas travels along
the top of the channel and the liquid along the bottom. The interface between
the two phases is nearly flat without significant waves. Typically more than half
of the perimeter of the tube is dry while the remainder is wet.

Stratified-wavy flow
Increasing the gas velocity in a stratified flow, interfacial shear on the liquid
surface creates waves which not only travel in the direction of flow but they
also tend to wrap up around the perimeter towards the top of the tube. The
amplitude of the waves is notable; however, their crests do not reach the top of
the tube. Typically a significant portion of the upper perimeter of the tube
remains dry, although an occasional large amplitude wave may intermittently
wet it.
Intermittent flow
Further increasing the gas velocity, the interfacial waves become consistently
large enough to wet the top perimeter, typically leaving behind a liquid film
such that the entire perimeter of the tube is nearly always wet. The large
amplitude waves are separated by smaller amplitude waves in between that do
not reach the top of the channel. Entrained bubbles are usually seen in the
large waves, having been trapped by the rolling motion of the waves. The liquid
slugs separating such large elongated bubbles could also be described as large
periodic amplitude waves and hence gives the name of this regime: intermittent
flow. Intermittent flow is sometimes subdivided into two other regimes: plug
flow and slug flow.

Plug flow
This flow regime is a liquid flow with large elongated gas bubbles flowing along
the top of the channel. The diameters of the elongated bubbles are smaller than
the tube such that the liquid phase is continuous.
Slug flow
When the gas flow rate is increased, the diameters of elongated bubbles
become similar to that of the channel and the flow begins to look similar to slug
flow in vertical channels. Typically the liquid film between the top of the bubble
and the channel is thin compared to that beneath the bubble.

Annular flow
Similar to vertical flows, when increasing the gas flow rate the liquid forms a
continuous annular film around the perimeter of the tube; however, the liquid
film is thicker at the bottom of the pipe than at the top until at even higher gas
flow rates the annular liquid ring becomes uniform in thickness. The interface
between the liquid annulus and the vapor core is disturbed by waves and
droplets may be dispersed in the gas core. At high gas fractions, the top of the
tube with its thinner film becomes dry first, so that the annular film covers only
the lower tube perimeter and thus this may also be classified as a stratified-
wavy flow.
Mist flow
Similar to vertical flow, at very high gas velocities, all the liquid may be stripped
from the wall and entrained as small droplets in the now continuous gas phase.
This tends to be a progressive process that begins first at the top of the tube
where the liquid film is thinner and then proceeds downstream until all of the
liquid is entrained as droplets. Sometimes rivulets of liquid are also seen after
the breakdown of the liquid film, i.e. liquid that has not yet been entrained.
Figure (4a):Two-phase flow patterns in horizontal flow
 Figure (4b):Flow pattern in horizontal heated channels

Adiabatic Flow Pattern Maps for Horizontal Tubes

Baker (1954) proposed one of the earliest and still widely quoted flow
pattern maps for predicting the transition between two-phase flow regimes
for adiabatic flow in horizontal tubes, depicted in Fig. 5.
Figure (5): Two-phase flow pattern map of
Baker (1954) for horizontal tubes.
 This map segregates the flows into bubbly (with a froth zone), plug, slug,
stratified, wavy (i.e. stratified-wavy), annular and dispersed (apparently
either annular flow with substantial entrainment or mist flow). To utilize
the map, first the liquid and gas mass fluxes are calculated. Then, the
physical property ratio parameters λ and ψ are determined as:

The properties of the fluid at the desired operating condition are input for
ρL,ρG,μL and σ while the reference properties for water and air to be used
are:
 The values of the x-axis and y-axis are then determined to identify the
particular flow regime. As can be seen, the physical property ratios are
used to apply the map at other operating conditions relative to the base
case of air and water at his standard conditions. To compare to other maps
and designations, usually the plug and slug regimes would be jointed
together and called intermittent flow while the froth flow would be ignored.
 Taitel and Dukler (1976) proposed perhaps the mostly widely quoted map
for horizontal flow in tubes, depicted in Fig. 6), based on their mechanistic
analysis of the flow transition mechanisms together with a selection of non
dimensional parameters. The map uses the Martinelli parameter X, the gas
Froude number Frg and the parameters T and K. Their map is composed of
three graphs (frequently represented as a single graph, however). The
Martinelli parameter and the gas Froude number are:
:The parameters T and K are
 Were g is the acceleration due to gravity, while the vapor phase and liquid
phase Reynolds numbers are:

The pressure gradient of the flow for the phase k (where k is either L or G)

For the Rek<2000, the laminar flow friction factor used is :

For the Rek>2000, the turbulent flow friction factor used is :

Figure (6):Two-phase flow pattern map of Taitel
and Dukler (1976) for horizontal tubes (top-left),
Example (1):

Find the flow pattern when (4) kg/s of steam-water mixture of quality
(20%) at (20) bar flows in a circular tube of internal diameter (0.1) m:
1-When the flow is vertically apwareds.
2-When the flow is horizontal.
Solution:
The physical properties required are:
Water density: ρL 850 kg/m3
Steam density: ρG=10 kg/m3
Water viscosity: μL=128×10-6 Ns/m2; and
Steam viscosity: μG =16×10-6 Ns/m2

1- Vertical apwared: the method used is the flow pattern map of

Hewitt and Roberts, see Figure (3). The axes are (G2G/ρG) and (G2L/ρL).
the total mass flux (G) is given by :
The phase mass fluxes are then:

Therfore:
Plotting this point on Figure (3) , it is found to be well into annular flow region.

2- Horizontal flow: The method used is the complex flow pattern to Taitel
and Dukler, see Figure (6). It is necessary to calculate first the single-phase
gas and liquid pressure gradient (dp/dz)L and (dp/dz)G. this is done by
evaluating the single phase Reynolds number (Gd/μ), then friction factor (f)
and finally the pressure gradient.
For the gas:

ReG>2000 then
For the liquid:

ReL>2000 then
The relevant dimensionless gropes can now be calculated from:
And

The top part of Figure (6) shows that again the flow pattern is annular ,
the second and third part of the figure are not needed in this case.