Analysis on two-phase flow instability in parallel multichannels

Abstract

An analysis on the hydrodynamic instability of two-phase flow in parallel multichannels is conducted. Occurrence of instabilities and their modes of oscillations can be evaluated by investigating into a characteristic equation, its roots and composing channel transfer functions. It is also shown that a governing matrix is reduced to a diagonal one by using its eigenvalues, the oscillation modes being divided into N (number of channels) separate fundamental modes. Characteristics of each oscillation mode are given by examining corresponding characteristic equations. The derived equations are applied for the prediction of oscillation modes of systems composed of a few slightly different channels. The analysis successfully predicts the modes which have been experimentally observed. © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.