Experimental study of the slug/churn flow transition in a single Taylor bubble

A study is presented of the hydrodynamic behaviour of very long gas slugs, rising co-currently with water along a 20 mm i.d. vertical tube. Visual observation (supported by pictures from video and still cameras) and the signals from a set of three fast response differential pressure transducers, were used to elucidate the flow behaviour of individual slugs of argon, with densities in the range 6.6–21.5 kg/m3 (corresponding to operating pressures in the range 0.4–1.3 MPa), as they rose in water that moved up the tube, with constant average velocity in the range 0.17–1.4 m/s. For the lower gas densities and liquid velocities the slugs were stable, but for the higher liquid velocities and/or gas densities, the slugs would become unstable, as a result of flooding in the wetted wall flow around them. The video sequences show clearly that, at the higher pressures, liquid from the film was dragged up by the gas, while the still pictures document the corresponding transition to churn flow in the lower regions of the rising slugs.