Gamma-ray-based measurement of concentration distribution in pipe flow of settling slurry: vertical profiles and tomographic maps

Principles of gamma-ray-based measurement are summarized and their application is demonstrated on an operation of the radiometric facility installed in the test loop for slurry flows at the Institute of Hydrodynamics. The facility is able to measure vertical profiles of chord-averaged concentrations and concentration maps in the pipe cross section. A methodology of measurement is proposed including detection and quantification of random and systematic errors. Experimental results are discussed in the light of the proposed methodology. Experimentally determined vertical profiles of concentration are presented for slurry flows of four different fractions of glass beads. The tomographic application of the radiometric device is demonstrated on a measured concentration map and a suitable image reconstruction method is tested. High reliability of measured concentration distributions is proved except for regions near the pipe wall. The radiometric method is shown to be a useful tool for measurement of concentration distribution in slurry flow through a pipe.