Flow pattern method

For a simple geometry the flow pattern method describes the flow direction in the filling phase as well as the holding phase (see Fig. 5-90). 

FIGURE 2.23 Basis for the flow pattern method the wave propagation theory... 

For simple components, constructive circle methods can be applied that are similar to the flow pattern method. However, in complex components with (for example) different rib depths and rib densities in combination with free-form surfaces, the limits of the methods are quickly exhausted, and a design with numerical methods is essential. 

Improvements ia membrane technology, vahdation of membrane iategrity, and methods to extend filter usage should further improve the performance of membrane filters ia removal of viral particles. Methods to improve or extead filter life and iacrease flow rates by creating more complex flow patterns could possibly be the focus of the next generation of membrane filters designed to remove viral particles. 

Commercial Extractors. Extractors can be classified according to the methods appHed for interdispersing the phases and producing the countercurrent flow pattern. Eigure 11 summarizes the classification of the principal types of commercial extractors Table 3 summarizes the main characteristics. 

Approximate prediction of flow pattern may be quickly done using flow pattern maps, an example of which is shown in Fig. 6-2.5 (Baker, Oil Gas]., 53[12], 185-190, 192-195 [1954]). The Baker chart remains widely used however, for critical calculations the mechanistic model methods referenced previously are generally preferred for their greater accuracy, especially for large pipe diameters and fluids with ysical properties different from air/water at atmospheric pressure. In the chart. 

Many times solids are present in one or more phases of a solid-hquid system. They add a certain level of complexity in the process, especially if they tend to be a part of both phases, as they normally will do. Approximate methods need to be worked out to estimate the density of the emulsion and determine the overall velocity of the flow pattern so that proper evaluation of the suspension requirements can be made. In general, the solids will behave as though they were a fluid of a particular average density and viscosity and won t care much that there is a two-phase dispersion going on in the system. However, if solids are being dissolved or precipitated by participating in one phase and not the other, then they will be affected by which phase is dispersed or continuous, and the process will behave somewhat differently than if the solids migrate independently between the two phases within the process. 

The zoning method offers better contaminant removal and thermal effectiveness than with mixing, limited control of the flow patterns in the ventilated zone, and the ability to avoid stagnant areas with high local concentrations in the ventilated zone. However, partial mixing of contaminants in the ventilated zone decreases its effectiveness. 

The latest tw o-phase flow research and design studies have broadened the interpretation of some of the earlier flow patterns and refined some design accuracy for selected situations. The method presented here serves as a fundamental reference source for further studies. It is suggested that the designer compare several design concept results and interpret which best encompasses the design problem under consideration. Some of the latest references are included in the Reference Section. No one reference has a solution to all two-phase flow problems. 

The flow patterns of agitated liquid have been studied extensively (Al, B11, F6, K5, M6, N2, R12, V5), usually by photographic methods. Apparently no work has been reported on bubble-flow patterns and relative velocities in agitated gas-liquid dispersions. Some simple pictures have been presented that only show the same details that may be seen with the unaided eye (Bll, F6, Y4). 

Figure 3.1. Reynolds method of for tracing flow patterns...

As discussed in Section 9.4.4, the complex flow pattern on the shell-side and the great number of variables involved make the prediction of coefficients and pressure drop very difficult, especially if leakage and bypass streams are taken into account. Until about 1960. empirical methods were used to account for the difference in the performance... 

It is shown in Section 9.9.5 that, with the existence of various bypass and leakage streams in practical heat exchangers, the flow patterns of the shell-side fluid, as shown in Figure 9.79, are complex in the extreme and far removed from the idealised cross-flow situation discussed in Section 9.4.4. One simple way of using the equations for cross-flow presented in Section 9.4.4, however, is to multiply the shell-side coefficient obtained from these equations by the factor 0.6 in order to obtain at least an estimate of the shell-side coefficient in a practical situation. The pioneering work of Kern(28) and DoNOHUE(lll who used correlations based on the total stream flow and empirical methods to allow for the performance of real exchangers compared with that for cross-flow over ideal tube banks, went much further and. 

Steam-liquid flow. Two-phase flow maps and heat transfer prediction methods which exist for vaporization in macro-channels and are inapplicable in micro-channels. Due to the predominance of surface tension over the gravity forces, the orientation of micro-channel has a negligible influence on the flow pattern. The models of convection boiling should correlate the frequencies, length and velocities of the bubbles and the coalescence processes, which control the flow pattern transitions, with the heat flux and the mass flux. The vapor bubble size distribution must be taken into account. 

As mentioned in Section 11.3, fluidized-bed reactors are difficult to scale. One approach is to build a cold-flow model of the process. This is a unit in which the solids are fluidized to simulate the proposed plant, but at ambient temperature and with plain air as the fluidizing gas. The objective is to determine the gas and solid flow patterns. Experiments using both adsorbed and nonadsorbed tracers can be used in this determination. The nonadsorbed tracer determines the gas-phase residence time using the methods of Chapter 15. The adsorbed tracer also measures time spent on the solid surface, from which the contact time distribution can be estimated. See Section 15.4.2. 

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