Bubble shape and breakage events in a vertical pipe at the boiler flow line

Abstract

The theoretical and experimental aspects concerning the typical bubble shape at the flow line of a standard domestic central heating system are investigated. This is done in support of the on-going research on two-phase flows in domestic central heating systems. Bubble nucleation and detachment at the primary heat exchanger wall of a domestic central heating boiler results in a bubbly two-phase flow in the system pipe work. Bubbly flow results in undesired cold spots at higher points in the system, consequently diminishing system performance. An experimental analysis was done on the bubble shape at the exit of the boiler through the application of photographic techniques. The results are presented in terms of the measured bubble aspect ratios at some principal system operating conditions. The dimensionless Eotvos and bubble Reynolds number were calculated and tabulated with the measured mean diameters. The data was subsequently correlated to the bubble shape regime diagram. Results suggest that most bubbles are quasi-spherical in shape with a noticeable elongation at lower bulk fluid Reynolds numbers.