Measurement of Multiphase Flow in an Air-lift Pipe using Ultrasound

Abstract

Air-lift two-phase and particulate three-phase flow in a vertical pipe has been measured by ultrasound with the aim of revealing the transient dynamics of the air-lift performance. Changing the gas flow rate and mass loading of solid particles, we measured the void fraction and liquid flow rate in the slug-flow regime at 55 Hz in sampling rate. We found that mixing the liquid phase with solid particles reduced the mean axial length of the bubbles and the void fraction was reduced because of the long slug destabilized by the particles.