Detection of two-phase flow patterns in a vertical minichannel using the recurrence quantification analysis

Abstract

The two-phase flow (water-air) occurring in square minichannel (3x3 mm) has been analysed. In the minichannel it has been observed: bubbly flow, flow of confined bubbles, flow of elongated bubbles, slug flow and semi-annular flow. The time series recorded by laser-phototransistor sensor was analysed using the recurrence quantification analysis. The two coefficients: Recurrence rate (RR) and Determinism (DET) have been used for identification of differences between the dynamics of two-phase flow patterns. The algorithm which has been used normalizes the analysed time series before calculating the recurrence plots. Therefore in analysis the quantitative signal characteristics was neglected. Despite of the neglect of quantitative signal characteristics the analysis of its dynamics (chart of DET vs. RR) allows to identify the two-phase flow patterns. This confirms that this type of analysis can be used to identify the two-phase flow patterns in minichannels.