EXPERIMENTS WITH COAXIAL FITTINGS FOR ENHANCING THE PHASE DISTRIBUTION IN PARALLEL VERTICAL CHANNELS

In this paper, in order to establish the influence of the operating conditions and of the header geometry on the phase/mass distribution into parallel vertical channels, a number of flow distribution fittings have been tested with respect to a test section characterized by a horizontal header and 16 vertical upward vertical channels. The fluids are air and water and the flow regimes at the header cover the intermittent and annular flow pattern conditions. The effects of the operating conditions, the header geometry were investigated in the ranges of liquid and gas superficial velocities of 0.2-1.2 and 1.5-12 m/s, respectively. The header geometries here compared are the smooth reference case, with a series of cylindrical distributors with in-line holes along its length (“flutes”). New data in particular are presented with respect to the “double chamber flute” fitting. As in previous studies by the present research group, extracted mass flow rates of liquid and gas from parallel channels are recast in terms of normalised flow rates and normalised standard deviation of phases.