Modeling of void fraction and relative velocity covariance for dispersed bubbly and intermittent flows in horizontal channels

Abstract

Abstract The interfacial drag force governs the momentum exchange between gas and liquid phases and is a key parameter in predicting void fraction using a one-dimensional thermal-analysis code. The interfacial drag force is formulated by the product of the overall drag coefficient and the area-averaged relative velocity between two phases. The area-averaged relative velocity for gas-dispersed two-phase flows has been formulated with the aid of the distribution parameter, which expresses the covariance due to the distributions of void fraction and mixture volumetric flux. It has been pointed out that the term due to void fraction covariance is missing in the formulation of the area-averaged relative velocity adopted in one-dimensional thermal-analysis codes. This study has been conducted to develop void fraction and relative velocity covariance models for gas-dispersed two-phase flows in horizontal pipes. The database of local void fraction distributions for horizontal bubbly flows was established, and an artificial database for intermittent horizontal flows was modeled with assumed distributions of local void fractions. The developed void fraction covariance model for gas-dispersed horizontal two-phase flows could reproduce the data with the mean relative deviation (i.e., bias) of 8.33% and the mean absolute relative deviation (i.e., random uncertainty) of 21.4%. The developed relative velocity covariance model for gas-dispersed horizontal two-phase flows could reproduce the data with the mean relative deviation (i.e., bias) of -0.265% and the mean absolute relative deviation (i.e., random uncertainty) of 7.11%.