The correct prediction of gas-liquid two phase pressure drop is of immense significance for proper sizing of industrial equipment and safety operations involved in chemical, energy and petrochemical applications. The hydrostatic component of the two phase pressure drop is predicted based on the accurate estimation of void fraction. However, there exists a complexity in correct estimation of the frictional component of two phase pressure drop owing to interfacial friction at dynamic gas-liquid interface. The present study is focused on the experimental measurements of gas-liquid two phase frictional pressure drop and the performance evaluation of eleven correlations for its prediction in vertical downward orientation. The experimental determination of two phase frictional pressure drop is carried out for a 0.01252 m I.D. pipe with surface roughness of 0.0000152 m using air-water as the fluid combination. Unlike most of the other studies centered towards annular flow, this experimental study is spanned over different flow patterns and the entire range of the void fraction. In addition to the experimental measurements, the scope of this study also includes the performance analysis of eleven frictional pressure drop correlations available in the literature. These correlations are those based on the separated flow model initially proposed by Lockhart and Martinelli [1].The available frictional pressure drop correlations are compared against the data measured in the present study. Based on the experimental data available in the literature, the influence of the pipe diameter and fluid viscosity on the frictional pressure drop is also analyzed.

The non-boiling gas-liquid two phase flow is pertinent to industrial applications like the reduction of paraffin wax depositions in petroleum transport lines, air lift systems and the chemical processes such as ethanol-water fractionation seeking enhanced heat and mass transfer. The non-boiling two phase heat transfer mechanism in horizontal and vertical orientations has been investigated by many researchers. However, till date very little experimental work and investigation has been performed for vertical downward flow. In order to contribute more to this research and have a better understanding of the non-boiling two phase heat transfer phenomenon for this pipe orientation, experimental investigation is undertaken for a vertical downward oriented 0.01252 m I.D. schedule 10 S stainless steel pipe using air-water as fluid combination. The influence of different flow patterns on the two phase convective heat transfer coefficient is studied using experimental measurements of 165 data points for bubbly, slug, froth, falling film and annular flow patterns spanned over the entire range of the void fraction. In general the two phase heat transfer coefficients are found to be consistently higher than that of the single phase flow. This tendency is observed to increase with increase in the gas flow rate as the flow regime migrates from bubbly to the annular flow. The concept of Reynolds analogy as implemented by Tang and Ghajar [1] for horizontal and vertical upward flow is analyzed against the vertical downward flow data collected in the present study. Due to lack of correlations available for predicting the two phase heat transfer coefficient in vertical downward orientation it was decided to perform the quantitative analysis of the seventeen two phase heat transfer correlations available for vertical upward flow. This analysis is concluded by the recommendation of the top performing correlations in the literature for each flow pattern. Based on the pressure drop data and using Reynolds analogy, a simple equation is proposed to correlate the two phase heat transfer coefficient with the single phase heat transfer coefficient.