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We have observed propagating adiabatic evaporation waves in superheated liquid dodecane, C 12 H 26 . Experiments were performed with a rapid decompression apparatus at initial temperatures of 180-300 • C. Saturated dodecane in a tube was suddenly depressurized by rupturing a diaphragm. Motion pictures and still photographic images, and pressure and temperature data were obtained during the evaporation event that followed depressurization. Usually, a front or wave of evaporation started at the liquid free surface and propagated into the undisturbed regions of the metastable liquid. The evaporation wave front moved with a steady mean velocity but the front itself was unstable and fluctuating in character. At low superheats, no waves were observed until a threshold superheat was exceeded. At moderate superheats, subsonic downstream states were observed. At higher superheats, the downstream flow was choked, corresponding to a Chapman-Jouguet condition. At the most extreme superheat tested, a vapour content of over 90% was estimated from the measured data, indicating a nearly complete evaporation wave. Our results are interpreted by modelling the evaporation wave as a discontinuity, or jump, between a superheated liquid state and a two-phase liquid-vapour downstream state. Reasonable agreement is found between the model and observations; however, there is a fundamental indeterminacy that prevents the prediction of the observed wave speeds.

This paper examines a flashing liquid regime that takes place at very high ratios of injection to discharge pressures in flow restrictions. Typically, the flashing phenomenon has been observed in laboratory experiments where a liquid flows through a short nozzle into a low-pressure chamber at a pressure value considerably lower than the liquid saturation pressure at the injection temperature. By using two visualization techniques, the schlieren and the back-lighting methods, it was possible to identify some compressible phenomena associated with the liquid flashing process from the nozzle exit section. The schlieren method was used to capture the image of a shock-wave structure surrounding a liquid core from which the phase change takes place, and the optical technique allowed us to observe the central liquid core itself. The work corroborates previous physical descriptions of flashing liquid jets to explain an observed choking behaviour as well as the presence of shock waves. According to the present analysis, flashing takes place on the surface of the liquid core through an evaporation wave process, which results from a sudden liquid evaporation in a discontinuous process. Downstream of the evaporation discontinuity, the two-phase flow reaches very high velocities, up to the local sonic speed that typically occurs at high expansion conditions, as inferred from experiments and the physical model. That sonic state is also a point of maximum mass flow rate and it is known as the Chapman–Jouguet condition. The freshly sonic two-phase flow expands freely to increasing supersonic velocities and eventually terminates the expansion process through a shock-wave structure. This paper presents experimental results at several test conditions with iso-octane.

Void fraction sensors are important instruments not only for monitoring two-phase flow, but for furnishing an important parameter for obtaining flow map pattern and two-phase flow heat transfer coefficient as well. This work presents the experimental results obtained with the analysis of two axially spaced multiple-electrode impedance sensors tested in an upward air-water two-phase flow in a vertical tube for void fraction measurements. An electronic circuit was developed for signal generation and post-treatment of each sensor signal. By phase shifting the electrodes supplying the signal, it was possible to establish a rotating electric field sweeping across the test section. The fundamental principle of using a multipleelectrode configuration is based on reducing signal sensitivity to the non-uniform cross-section void fraction distribution problem. Static calibration curves were obtained for both sensors, and dynamic signal analyses for bubbly, slug, and turbulent churn flows were carried out. Flow parameters such as Taylor bubble velocity and length were obtained by using crosscorrelation techniques. As an application of the void fraction tested, vertical flow pattern identification could be established by using the probability density function technique for void fractions ranging from 0% to nearly 70%.

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