Hydrodynamics of Bubble and Slug in Upward Gas-Liquid-Solid Three-Phase Flow

Abstract

Laser fiber probes made it possible to measure the velocities and sizes of bubbles and slugs in three-phase upflow including glass beads, polystyrene beads, or CaCO₃ of up to 30% through a 3.0 cm vertical tube. The bubble and slug velocities almost agreed with those for the gas-liquid two-phase flow under the conditions studied. The bubble diameters and gas slug lengths were often affected by solids of even lower concentrations. The flow pattern maps for the three-phase flow, including glass or polystyrene beads, showed broader bubble-flow regime at low gas velocities than that for the gas-liquid two-phase flow and the three-phase flow including CaCO₃.