Experimental and numerical investigation of counter-current stratified flows in horizontal channels

Counter-current flow regimes of air and water are investigated in the WENKA test facility at the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe. With the fluorescent-particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurement technique, velocity and velocity fluctuations are measured up to the free surface. A statistical model is presented to correlate the measured void fraction with the turbulent kinetic energy calculated from the measured velocity fluctuations. The experimental data are used to develop a phase interaction model to simulate stratified flows. Two different approaches are compared for turbulence modelling. The Prandtl mixing length model and an extended k–ω model for the two-phase region are applied to supercritical flow conditions.