Hydrodynamics of Rotating Bubble Flow

Abstract

This paper presents a new set of experimental data on the hydrodynamics of rotating bubble flow and is a continuation of previous gas-liquid rotating flow studies. The new data include the surface friction on both end walls of the vortex chamber, and static pressure distributions at the exit of swirl generator slots and on the inner surface of vortex chamber. The corotating disk technique was used to determine the friction momentum measured by the dynamometer. The air-liquid velocity was registered by the blade-anemometer with a light modulator fixed on its axis. The friction coefficient was found based on the conservation of rotational momentum and the assumption of constant air-liquid rotational velocity throughout the two-phase flow field. The ‘jump-like’ reductions in static pressure were registered on the border between the incoming jets and the bubble flow. A new correlation describing linear gas-liquid rotating velocity is given. The static pressure measurements are in reasonable agreement with the data predicted from the theoretical model.