COCURRENT GAS-LIQUID FLOW IN METAL FOAM: AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF PRESSURE GRADIENT

摘要

Metal foams have a relatively large "fluid/solid" contact area (m~2 m~(-3)) as well as small pressure drops due to their open structure. They may be used for many applications, such as in chemical reactors for the deposition of a catalyst. Gas and liquid cocurrent flows through this solid foam packing are investigated. Sample pore sizes are in the range of 400-2500 μm. The influence of pore size and gas and liquid mass flow rate density on the pressure gradient is experimentally investigated, and flow regimes are observed (bubbly, pulsating, and trickle flow). The reduced pressure gradient, defined as the two-phase multiplier by Lockhart and Martinelli formalism, allows the gathering and comparing of results obtained for all samples. Although the pore size range is very wide, the two-phase multiplier does not reveal any significant discrepancy between all the tested samples. Moreover, a correlation with glass-packed beds may reasonably be used to predict the pressure drop in metal foam (± 25%).