The hydrodynamics of two-phase flows in the injection part of a conventional ejector

Abstract

The characteristics of two-phase flow through a ‘conventional’ convergent-nozzle in an entrainment chamber of an ejector apparatus are described in this paper. A unique data set comprising 350 data points was generated in an air-water horizontal test-rig. Two sets of flow conditions were established, the first one including high liquid - low gas fluids with void fractions less than 0.55, and the second one involving high gas - low liquid fluids with void fractions greater than 0.75. All considered flow-rates lied within the sub-critical flow region. Two-phase flow pressure drop multiplier based empirical correlations were developed to estimate the total mass flow-rates. In the high liquid region, Morris (1985) correlation was modified, resulting in less than 10% error. In the high gas region, two new correlations were proposed, showing less than 10% and 15% of errors, respectively. The established empirical correlations were related to other available multipliers for different geometric configurations including a Venturi, an orifice plate, a gate valve, and a globe valve and were compared to 20 other void fraction correlations. The Chisholm (1983b) and Huq and Loth (1992) correlations showed the highest similarities to the ones proposed for the high liquid and high gas regions, respectively.