HORIZONTAL FLOW OF AIR AND LIQUID (NEWTONIAN AND NON-NEWTONIAN) IN A SMOOTH PIPE .1. A CORRELATION FOR AVERAGE LIQUID HOLDUP

Simple correlations have been developed for the estimation of average liquid holdup for co-current flow of air and Newtonian and non-Newtonian (shear-thinning) liquids in either laminar or turbulent flow before air injection. Experiments have been performed in a 42 mm diameter horizontal pipe nd holdup was measured using a gamma -ray absorption method. The two types of liquids used were aqueous glycerol mixtures which exhibited Newtonian behavior and shear-thinning mixtures of kaolin, water and glycerol. For all systems the Lockhart-Martinelli correlation over-predicts liquid holdup. Results have been correlated by the Lockhart-Martinelli parameter chi for Newtonian liquids and by a modified parameter chi for non-Newtonian liquids in laminar flow.