Identification of Flow Regimes in a Concurrent Gas Liquid Upflow through Packed Beds

Abstract

The flow regimes bubble flow, pulse flow, and spray flow were identified by visual observation in a packed column. Three gas-liquid systems (air/water, air/56 % glycerol, and air/monoethanolamine) and four column packings (Raschig rings, Intalox saddles, and two sizes of spheres) were investigated to cover wide ranges of physical properties of gas liquid systems and characteristics of column packings affecting the flow regime transition. Criteria for the flow regime transition were developed in terms of system and operating variables.

Gas–liquid flows through porous media in microgravity: Packed Bed Reactor Experiment‐2

“…We term this flow regime as “gas channeling” (GC) regime. This regime was also observed in normal gravity experiments 7–13 . Our video observations (limited to near wall region) were not clear enough to determine the transition between the LB and GC regime, but it appears that Equation () is a fair approximation.…”

Gas–liquid flows through porous media in microgravity: The International Space Station Packed Bed Reactor Experiment

“…In comparison, fewer studies address the bubble to pulse transition that occurs in 1‐g at higher liquid flow rates when both the liquid and gas are flowing downward in the packed bed. Such a transition is also observed over a range of liquid flow rates in packed columns with upward cocurrent flow 18 and in columns operating under microgravity conditions 1 . In these studies, the transition from a bubbly to a pulsing pattern is based typically on visual observations, although Motil et al have also used a criterion based on the sudden increase in the intensity of selected frequency components in the power spectrum of the pressure fluctuations at a fixed location near the column exit.…”