ICONE19-44019 LIQUID FILM THICKNESS MEASUREMENT IN SMALL SQUARE PIPE USING ULTRASONIC PULSE-ECHO METHOD

抄録

The ultrasonic pulse-echo method is applied to measure thickness in a liquid film. To prevent a piezoelectric element cracking under high temperature conditions, the maximum frequency of sound is limited. On the other hand, the required thickness resolution is about 0.05mm to detect whether or not dryout has occurred. An ultrasonic transducer frequency of 5MHz is selected to satisfy both frequency and resolution requirements for air-water experiments. The changing liquid film thickness on a stainless steel plate is simultaneously measured with the ultrasonic transducer and a laser displacement sensor. The two types of results show good agreement within the range from 0.06 to 0.22mm. Next, the air-water annular flow in the small vertical square pipe is measured using the pulse-echo method. A liquid film sensor based on the electrical conductance method is also used for results comparison. The most frequently observed thickness measured by the two methods is almost the same based on comparison of the measurement histograms. To estimate the resolution of the pulse-echo method, the pulse intensities of multiple reflections in the liquid film are simulated. The results show that a liquid film thickness of 0.03mm can be measured even if the ultrasonic frequency is less than 5MHz.