The subject of multiphase flows encompasses a vast field, a host of different technological contexts, a wide spectrum of different scales, a broad range of engineering disciplines, and a multitude of different analytical approaches. Not surprisingly, the number of books dealing with the subject is voluminous. For the student or researcher in the field of multiphase flow this broad spectrum presents a problem for the experimental or analytical methodologies that might be appropriate for his/her interests can be widely scattered and difficult to find. The aim of the present text is to try to bring much of this fundamental understanding together into one book and to present a unifying approach to the fundamental ideas of multiphase flows. Consequently the book summarizes those fundamental concepts with relevance to a broad spectrum of multiphase flows. It does not pretend to present a comprehensive review of the details of any one multiphase flow or technological context, although reference to books providing such reviews is included where appropriate. This book is targeted at graduate students and researchers at the cutting edge of investigations into the fundamental nature of multiphase flows; it is intended as a reference book for the basic methods used in the treatment of multiphase flows.

I am deeply grateful to all my many friends and fellow researchers in the field of multiphase flows whose ideas fill these pages. I am particularly indebted to my close colleagues Allan Acosta, Ted Wu, Rolf Sabersky, Melany Hunt, Tim Colonius, and the late Milton Plesset, all of whom made my professional life a real pleasure.

Introduction

From a practical engineering point of view one of the major design difficulties in dealing with multiphase flow is that the mass, momentum, and energy transfer rates and processes can be quite sensitive to the geometric distribution or topology of the components within the flow. For example, the geometry may strongly effect the interfacial area available for mass, momentum, or energy exchange between the phases. Moreover, the flow within each phase or component will clearly depend on that geometric distribution. Thus we recognize that there is a complicated two-way coupling between the flow in each of the phases or components and the geometry of the flow (as well as the rates of change of that geometry). The complexity of this two-way coupling presents a major challenge in the study of multiphase flows and there is much that remains to be done before even a superficial understanding is achieved.

An appropriate starting point is a phenomenological description of the geometric distributions or flow patterns that are observed in common multiphase flows. This chapter describes the flow patterns observed in horizontal and vertical pipes and identifies a number of the instabilities that lead to transition from one flow pattern to another.

Topologies of Multiphase Flow

Multiphase Flow Patterns

A particular type of geometric distribution of the components is called a flow pattern or flow regime and many of the names given to these flow patterns (such as annular flow or bubbly flow) are now quite standard.

Introduction

One of the characteristics of multiphase flows with which the engineer has to contend is that they often manifest instabilities that have no equivalent in single-phase flow (see, for example, Boure et al. 1973, Ishii 1982, Gouesbet and Berlemont 1993). Often the result is the occurence of large pressure, flow-rate, or volume-fraction oscillations that, at best, disrupt the expected behavior of the multiphase flow system (and thus decrease the reliability and life of the components, Makay and Szamody 1978) and, at worst, can lead to serious flow stoppage or structural failure (see, for example, NASA 1970, Wade 1974). Moreover, in many systems (such as pump and turbine installations) the trend toward higher rotational speeds and higher power densities increases the severity of the problem because higher flow velocities increase the potential for fluid/structure interaction problems. This chapter focuses on internal flow systems and the multiphase flow instabilities that occur in them.

System Structure

In the discussion and analysis of system stability, we consider that the system has been divided into its components, each identified by its index, k, as shown in Figure 15.1 where each component is represented by a box. The connecting lines do not depict lengths of pipe that are themselves components. Rather, the lines simply show how the components are connected. More specifically they represent specific locations at which the system has been divided up; these points are called the nodes of the system and are denoted by the index, i.

Introduction

The one-dimensional theory of sedimentation was introduced in a classic article by Kynch (1952), and the methods he used have since been expanded to cover a wide range of other multiphase flows. In Chapter 14 we introduced the concept of drift flux models and showed how these can be used to analyze and understand a class of steady flows in which the relative motion between the phases is determined by external forces and the component properties. The present chapter introduces the use of the drift flux method to analyze the formation, propagation, and stability of concentration (or kinematic) waves. For a survey of this material, the reader may wish to consult Wallis (1969).

The general concept of a kinematic wave was first introduced by Lighthill and Whitham (1955) and the reader is referred to Whitham (1974) for a rigorous treatment of the subject. Generically, kinematic waves occur when a functional relation connects the fluid density with the flux of some physically conserved quantity such as mass. In the present context a kinematic (or concentration) wave is a gradient or discontinuity in the volume fraction, α. We refer to such gradients or discontinuities as local structure in the flow; only multiphase flows with a constant and uniform volume fraction are devoid of such structure. Of course, in the absence of any relative motion between the phases or components, the structure is simply convected at the common velocity in the mixture.