State of the Art on Two-Phase Non-Miscible Liquid/Gas Flow Transport Analysis in Radial Centrifugal Pumps-Part A: General Considerations on Two-Phase Liquid/Gas Flows in Centrifugal Pumps

Abstract

Gas–liquid mixtures are present in numerous industrial applications, such as in the process industry, oil production and transport with natural gas, deep-sea extraction, and irrigation. Any pump may have to carry multiphase flows. However, the present document is related to non-miscible liquid/gas flow transport analysis in centrifugal pumps because which topic can be a more challenging task compared with axial and mixed flow machines due to specific body force and buoyancy actions and large density differences between the phases. The present document first introduces the main usual gas–liquid two-phase definitions and simplifications. A dimensional analysis introduces the main flow variables and parameters that are used for pumps. Basic physical aspects of flow motion in an impeller channel are explained, and a rapid description of two-phase flow patterns in radial flow pumps is described. Finally, a review of simplified empirical and semi-empirical analytical models is proposed with their limitations.