Comparison of gas-liquid flow characteristics in geometrically different swirl generating devices

The gas-liquid flow characteristics for blade, single, and the double-helical swirl elements were numerically investigated and compared in this work. The Euler-Euler model assuming bi-modal bubble size distributions was used. The experiment, conducted in a vertical pipe equipped with a static blade swirl element, was used as the basis for the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. In the experiment, high-resolution gamma-ray computed tomography (HireCT) was used to measure the gas volume fractions at several planes within the blade swirl element. The resulting calculated profiles of the pressure, liquid and gas velocities as well as the gas fraction showed a large influence of the swirl elements' geometry. The evolution and characteristics of the calculated gas-liquid phase distributions in different measurement planes were found to be unique for each type of swirl element. A single gas core in the center of the pipe was observed from the simulation of the blade element, while multiple cores were observed from the simulations of the single and double helix elements. The cross-sectional gas distribution downstream of the single and double helical elements changed drastically within a relatively short distance downstream of the elements. In contrast, the single gas core downstream of the blade element was more stable.