On the stability of Taylor bubbles inside a confined highly porous medium. (October 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Serres, Marion; Zanota, Marie-Line; Philippe, Régis; Vidal, Valérie
• Is Part Of: International journal of multiphase flow. Volume 85(2016)
• Page Start: 157
• Page End: 163
• Publication Date: 2016-10
• Subjects: Porous media -- Gas–liquid flow -- Bubble fragmentation -- Solid foam; Multiphase flow -- Periodicals; Écoulement polyphasique -- Périodiques; Multiphase flow; Periodicals; 620.1064
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijmultiphaseflow.2016.06.003
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0301-9322

Abstract

Highlights: Gas–liquid flow crossing an innovative porous medium of high porosity is analyzed. A modified Weber number controls the hydrodynamic regime of the two-phase flow. The bubble length entering the open cell solid foam controls the transition. A scaling model predicts the critical bubble length in agreement with experiments. Abstract: This work focuses on the local hydrodynamics of a multiphase gas–liquid flow forced into an innovative medium of high porosity (96%): an open cell solid foam. The gas (nitrogen) and liquid (ethanol) phases are injected at constant flow-rates in a millichannel to form a well-controlled Taylor flow which enters the porous medium. Based on a fluorescence technique, the apparent liquid holdup in the porous medium is quantified, and its evolution in time and along the porous medium extracted from spatiotemporal diagrams. The analysis of the main frequency, when varying the gas–liquid flow-rate ratio, leads to the identification of two hydrodynamic regimes. A model based on a scaling analysis is proposed to quantify the dimensionless numbers describing the transition between both regimes. It points out that the bubble length fixed by the Taylor flow is the control parameter. The model prediction of the critical bubble length at which the transition occurs is in good agreement with the experimental observations.