Velocity continued turbulence

As velocity continues to rise, the thicknesses of the laminar sublayer and buffer layers decrease, almost in inverse proportion to the velocity. The shear stress becomes almost proportional to the momentum flux (pk ) and is only a modest function of fluid viscosity. Heat and mass transfer (qv) to the wall, which formerly were limited by diffusion throughout the pipe, now are limited mostly by the thin layers at the wall. Both the heat- and mass-transfer rates are increased by the onset of turbulence and continue to rise almost in proportion to the velocity. 

In order for a model to be closured, the total number of independent equations has to match the total number of independent variables. For a single-phase flow, the typical independent equations include the continuity equation, momentum equation, energy equation, equation of state for compressible flow, equations for turbulence characteristics in turbulent flows, and relations for laminar transport coefficients (e.g., fJL = f(T)). The typical independent variables may include density, pressure, velocity, temperature, turbulence characteristics, and some laminar transport coefficients. Since the velocity of gas is a vector, the number of independent variables associated with the velocity depends on the number of components of the velocity in question. Similar consideration is also applied to the momentum equation, which is normally written in a vectorial form. 

The effect of turbulence on scalars in the flow (c, T, reaction kinetics) is strong, and is sensitive to the details of the velocity and turbulence fields. Models that have been formulated to solve the combination of velocity and scalar fields have not yet accounted for the multiplicity of interactions between the fields, especially when complex reaction kinetics exist. Steady progress continues in the application of full PDF models to these problems. 

In the region 1, where the pulsation velocity does not exceed the laminar flame velocity, the turbulent flame possesses a curved front of thickness similar to that of the laminar front. With the pulsation velocity growth, the level of curvature increases and the flame can lose its continuity. 

A low Reynolds number indicates laminar flow and a paraboHc velocity profile of the type shown in Figure la. In this case, the velocity of flow in the center of the conduit is much greater than that near the wall. If the operating Reynolds number is increased, a transition point is reached (somewhere over Re = 2000) where the flow becomes turbulent and the velocity profile more evenly distributed over the interior of the conduit as shown in Figure lb. This tendency to a uniform fluid velocity profile continues as the pipe Reynolds number is increased further into the turbulent region. 

Because of its small size and portabiHty, the hot-wire anemometer is ideally suited to measure gas velocities either continuously or on a troubleshooting basis in systems where excess pressure drop cannot be tolerated. Furnaces, smokestacks, electrostatic precipitators, and air ducts are typical areas of appHcation. Its fast response to velocity or temperature fluctuations in the surrounding gas makes it particularly useful in studying the turbulence characteristics and rapidity of mixing in gas streams. The constant current mode of operation has a wide frequency response and relatively lower noise level, provided a sufficiently small wire can be used. Where a more mgged wire is required, the constant temperature mode is employed because of its insensitivity to sensor heat capacity. In Hquids, hot-film sensors are employed instead of wires. The sensor consists of a thin metallic film mounted on the surface of a thermally and electrically insulated probe. 

In design of separating chambers, static vessels or continuous-flow tanks may be used. Care must be taken to protect the flow from turbulence, which coiild cause back mixing of partially separated fluids or which could cany unseparated hquids rapidly to the separated-hquid outlet. Vertical baffles to protect rising biibbles from flow currents are sometimes employed. Unseparated fluids should be distributed to the separating region as uniformly and with as little velocity as possible. When the bubble rise velocity is quite low, shallow tanks or flow channels should be used to minimize the residence time required. 

Inertial forces are developed when the velocity of a fluid changes direction or magnitude. In turbulent flow, inertia forces are larger than viscous forces. Fluid in motion tends to continue in motion until it meets a sohd surface or other fluid moving in a different direction. Forces are developed during the momentum transfer that takes place. The forces ac ting on the impeller blades fluctuate in a random manner related to the scale and intensity of turbulence at the impeller. 

In either laminar or turbulent flow, rotational circulation of a processed material around its own hydraulic center in each channel of the mixer causes radial mixing of the material. All processed material is continuously and completely intermixed, resulting in virtual elimination of radial gradients in temperature, velocity and material composition. 

Evaporators of this general type with dry expansion circuits will have the refrigerant within the tubes, in order to maintain a suitable continuous velocity for oil transport, and the liquid in the shell. These can be made as shell-and-tube, with the refrigerant constrained to a number of passes, or maybe shell-and-coil (see Figure 7.4). In both these configurations, baffles are needed on the water side to improve the turbulence, and the tubes maybe finned on the outside. Internal swirl strips or wires will help to keep liquid refrigerant in contact with the tube wall. 

As flow velocities increase, chelant attack becomes substantially worse, with the flow pattern being reflected in the form of U-shaped depressions and long tails (comet tails). Thinning continues until boiler failure occurs through a rupture of the thinned metal surface. In areas of high stress and/or high turbulence, attack is greatly enhanced and may be very localized. 

Glaser and Litt (G4) have proposed, in an extension of the above study, a model for gas-liquid flow through a b d of porous particles. The bed is assumed to consist of two basic structures which influence the fluid flow patterns (1) Void channels external to the packing, with which are associated dead-ended pockets that can hold stagnant pools of liquid and (2) pore channels and pockets, i.e., continuous and dead-ended pockets in the interior of the particles. On this basis, a theoretical model of liquid-phase dispersion in mixed-phase flow is developed. The model uses three bed parameters for the description of axial dispersion (1) Dispersion due to the mixing of streams from various channels of different residence times (2) dispersion from axial diffusion in the void channels and (3) dispersion from diffusion into the pores. The model is not applicable to turbulent flow nor to such low flow rates that molecular diffusion is comparable to Taylor diffusion. The latter region is unlikely to be of practical interest. The model predicts that the reciprocal Peclet number should be directly proportional to nominal liquid velocity, a prediction that has been confirmed by a few determinations of residence-time distribution for a wax desulfurization pilot reactor of 1-in. diameter packed with 10-14 mesh particles. 

Most theoretical studies of heat or mass transfer in dispersions have been limited to studies of a single spherical bubble moving steadily under the influence of gravity in a clean system. It is clear, however, that swarms of suspended bubbles, usually entrained by turbulent eddies, have local relative velocities with respect to the continuous phase different from that derived for the case of a steady rise of a single bubble. This is mainly due to the fact that in an ensemble of bubbles the distributions of velocities, temperatures, and concentrations in the vicinity of one bubble are influenced by its neighbors. It is therefore logical to assume that in the case of dispersions the relative velocities and transfer rates depend on quantities characterizing an ensemble of bubbles. For the case of uniformly distributed bubbles, the dispersed-phase volume fraction O, particle-size distribution, and residence-time distribution are such quantities. 

---