Prediction of the entrained liquid fraction in vertical annular gas-liquid two-phase flow

The study considers the prediction of the entrained liquid fraction in adiabatic gas-liquid annular two-phase flow in vertical pipes. Nine empirical correlations have been tested against an experimental data bank drawn together in this study containing 1504 points for 8 different gas-liquid combinations and 19 different tube diameters from 5.00 mm to 57.1 mm. The correlation of Sawant, Ishii and Mishima and the one of Oliemans, Pots and Trompe were found to best reproduce the available data. A new correlating approach, derived from both physical intuition and dimensional analysis and capable of providing further physical insight into the liquid film atomization process, was proposed and worked better than any of the existing methods. This new correlation is based on the core flow Weber number that is also a controlling dimensionless group in determining the wall shear stress and associated frictional pressure gradient of annular flows. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.