HORIZONTAL TWO-PHASE FLOW PATTERN RECOGNITION

In the present work a Wire Mesh Sensor (WMS) has been adopted to characterize the air-water two-phase flow in a test section consisting of a horizontal Plexiglas pipe of internal diameter 19.5 mm and total length of about 6 m. The flow quality ranges from 0 to 0.73 and the superficial velocity ranges from 0.145 to 31.94 m/s for air and from 0.019 to 2.62 m/s for water. The observed flow patterns are stratified-bubble-slug/plug-annular. The WMS consists of two planes of parallel wire grids (16x16) that are placed across the channel at 1.5 mm and span over the measuring cross section. The wires of both planes cross under an angle of 90°, with a diameter Dwire of 70 μm and a pitch equal to 1.3 mm. The void fraction profiles are derived from the sensor data and their evolution in time and space is analyzed and discussed. The dependence of the signals on the measured fluid dynamic quantities is discussed too. The main task is to predict which flow pattern will exist under any set of operating conditions as well as to predict the value of characteristic flow parameters.