International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow 52 (2015) 140–155

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International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijhff

Bubbly-to-cap bubbly flow transition in a long-26 m vertical large

diameter pipe at low liquid flow rate
Xiuzhong Shen a,⇑, Takashi Hibiki b, Hideo Nakamura c
a
Research Reactor Institute, Kyoto University, Kumatori-cho, Sennan-gun, Osaka 590-0494, Japan
b
School of Nuclear Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2017, USA
c
Nuclear Safety Research Center, Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Tokai-mura, Ibaraki 319-1195, Japan

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 22 February 2014
Received in revised form 19 December 2014
Accepted 1 January 2015
Available online 24 January 2015
Keywords:
Long vertical large diameter pipe
Low liquid flow rate
Local void fraction measurement
N-shaped axial void fraction change
Flow regime transition from bubbly to cap
bubbly flow
Evaluation of drift flux correlations
The concurrent upward two-phase flow of air and water in a long vertical large diameter pipe with an
inner diameter (D) of 200 mm and a height (z) of 26 m (z/D = 130) was investigated experimentally at
low superficial liquid velocities from 0.05009 to 0.3121 m/s and the superficial gas velocities from
0.01779 to 0.5069 m/s. The resultant void fractions range from 0.03579 to 0.4059. According to the obser-
vations using a high speed video camera, the flow regimes of bubbly, developing cap bubbly and fully-
developed cap bubbly flows prevailed in the flows. The developing cap bubbly flow appeared as a flow
regime transition from bubbly to fully-developed cap bubble flow in the vertical large diameter pipe.
The developing cap bubbly flow changes gradually and lasts for a long time period and a wide axial region
in the flow direction, in contrast to a sudden transition from bubbly to slug flows in a small diameter pipe.
The analysis in this study showed that the flow regime transition depends not only on the void fraction
but also on the axial distance in the flow and the pipe diameter. The axial flow development brings about
the transition to happen in a lower void fraction flow and the increase of pipe diameter causes the tran-
sition to happen in a higher void fraction flow. The measured void fraction showed an N-shaped axial
changing manner that the void fraction increases monotonously with axial position in the bubbly flow,
decreases non-monotonously with axial position in the developing cap bubbly flow, and increases
monotonously again with axial position in the fully-developed cap bubbly flow. The temporary void frac-
tion decrease phenomenon in the transition region from bubbly to cap bubbly flow can be attributed to
the formation of medium to large cap bubbles and their gradual growth into the maximum size of cap
bubble and/or cluster of large cap bubbles in the developing cap bubbly flow. In order to predict the
N-shaped axial void fraction changing behaviors in the flow regime transition from bubbly to cap bubbly
flow, the existing 12 drift flux correlation sets for large diameter pipes are reviewed and their predicta-
bilities are studied against the present experimental data. Although some drift flux correlation sets, such
as those of Clark and Flemmer (1986) and Hibiki and Ishii (2003), can predict the present experimental
data with reasonable average relative deviations, no drift flux correlation set for distribution parameter
and drift velocity can give a reliable prediction for the observed N-shaped axial void fraction changing
behaviors in the region from bubbly to cap bubbly flow in a vertical large diameter pipe.
Ó 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Gas–liquid bubbly two-phase flow which is characterized by a
dispersion of gas bubbles in a continuous liquid phase has been
extensively used in industrial plants, such as light water reactors,
chemical plants, energy storage, shale oil and gas extraction plants
and so on. The reason for this is that the two-phase flow is extremely
efficient for transferring mass or energy from one location to
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +81 72 451 2456; fax: +81 72 451 2658.
E-mail addresses: xzshen@rri.kyoto-u.ac.jp, shenxiuzhong@yahoo.co.jp
Shen).
another and provides a simple method for generating large surface
areas to allow effective mass, momentum and energy transfers
between the unreactive gas and liquid two phases and effective
chemical reactions between gases and water-soluble compounds
(Yu et al., 2002, Shen et al., 2014).
Long vertical large diameter pipes are extremely important for
state-of-the-art underground energy storage, underground carbon
capture and sequestration (CCS), shale oil and gas extractions and
nuclear power plant. Comparing with short vertical large diameter
pipes, the two-phase flow in the long vertical large diameter pipes
(X. shows a quite different flow characteristic, because of continuous

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatfluidflow.2015.01.001
0142-727X/Ó 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
 X. Shen et al. / International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow 52 (2015) 140–155
Nomenclature
a parameter in the correlation of Cunningham and Yeh
(1973) (–)
B1 parameter in the correlations of Chexal et al. (1991) (–)
C0 distribution parameter (–)
C2 variables in the correlations of Chexal et al. (1991) (–)
C3 variables in the correlations of Chexal et al. (1991) (–)
C4 variables in the correlations of Chexal et al. (1991) (–)
Cg correction factor of void fraction in the correlations of
Chexal et al. (1991) (–)
D inner diameter of the pipe (m)
DH hydraulic equivalent diameter of flow channel (m)
fch probability density function (PDF) of bubble chord
length (–)
g gravitational acceleration (m/s2)
j mixture volumetric flux (m/s)
jf superficial liquid velocity (m/s)
jg superficial gas velocity (m/s)
K0 parameter in the correlations of Chexal et al. (1991) (–)
L parameter in the correlations of Chexal et al. (1991) (–)
Lch bubble chord length (m)
Nl f viscosity number (-)
r parameter in the correlations of Chexal et al. (1991) (–)
Re Reynolds number (–)
t0,2h time when the front sensor tip, 0, touches the front
interface (2h) of the h-th bubble (s)
t0,2h+1 time when the front sensor tip, 0, touches the rear inter-
face (2h + 1) of the h-th bubble (s)
t1,2h time when the rear sensor tip, 1, touches the front inter-
face (2h) of the h-th bubble (s)
Vgj drift velocity (m/s)
flow transition due to the increase in local average gas velocity
with the axial pressure reduction. The two-phase flow becomes
more complicated at low liquid flow rate, because the buoyancy
force is predominant relative to the inertial force and the bubble-
induced turbulence and local flow swirling are prevailing. A review
of the current literature has revealed that a few works such as
Ohnuki and Akimoto (2000), Sun et al. (2002), Shen et al. (2002),
Prasser et al. (2005 and 2007), Omebere-Iyari et al. (2008) and
Shawkat et al. (2008) have been done regarding local flow charac-
teristics in short vertical large diameter pipe. We also have per-
formed local measurements at two or three axial positions for
the two-phase flow in long vertical large diameter pipe by using
four-sensor probe and hot-film anemometer in our previous stud-
ies (Shen et al., 2005a, 2010, 2011, 2012a). The currently available
knowledge on the two-phase flow characteristics in a vertical large
diameter can be summarized as (1) large stable Taylor bubbles
cannot be formed due to interfacial instability and the radial void
fraction profiles are different from those in small pipes in the
cap/slug flow regime, (2) relative velocities between large bubbles
and liquid are greatly increased relative to them in small diameter
pipes due to the formation of pipe-size large bubbles resulting
from the reduced influence of the pipe wall, (3) superposition of
the wall-shear-induced turbulence and the bubble-induced turbu-
lence results in the violent local flow swirling, especially at lower
liquid flow rates. It should be noted here that the studies in short
vertical large diameter pipe and the local measurements at two
or three axial positions in long vertical large diameter pipe cannot
get the whole pictures of the axial flow regime transitions in the
long vertical large diameter pipe. So it is necessary to carry out a
further detailed and systematic study on the significant flow
regime transition characteristics in such long vertical large diame-
ter pipe.
141
V ogj modified drift velocity for the correlations of Chexal
et al. (1991) (–)
Vgj, B drift velocity for bubbly flow (m/s)
Vgj, P drift velocity for pool boiling flow (m/s)
z height (m)
Greek letters
a void fraction (–)
ac critical void fraction the correlations of Murase et al.
(1986) (–)
DpDP differential pressure from the differential pressure
gauge (Pa)
Ds01 flow-directional distance between the front sensor tip,
0, and the rear sensor tip, 1, of a multi-sensor probe (m)
Dz axial distance (m)
Dq density difference between liquid and gas phases
(kg/m3)
l viscosity (Pa s)
q density (kg/m3)
r surface tension (N/m)
Subscripts
f liquid phase
g gas phase
Mathematical symbols
hi area-averaged quantity over cross-sectional flow area
The two-phase flow in a vertical large diameter pipe can be for-
mulated by using a two-fluid model (Ishii, 1975) or a drift-flux
model (Zuber and Findlay, 1965). Though the two-fluid model is
more accurate than the drift-flux model, it is much more computa-
tionally intensive. Therefore, the drift-flux model remains one of
the best available models for the two-phase flow analysis. The
model takes into account both the effects of non-uniform flow
and void fraction profiles as well as the effect of the local relative
velocity between phases. It has been utilized to solve many engi-
neering problems involving two-phase flow dynamics. The one-
dimensional drift-flux model (Zuber and Findlay, 1965) is given as
hjg i
¼ C 0 hji þ V gj ð1Þ
hai
where h i denotes the area average over the cross-sectional area of
the flow path and a, jg, j, C0 and Vgj are void fraction, superficial
gas velocity, mixture volumetric flux, distribution parameter and
drift velocity respectively. Since the effects of non-uniform flow
and void fraction profiles are taken into account by the distribution
parameter and the effect of the local relative velocity between
phases is accounted for by the mean drift velocity, these two quan-
tities are closely linked with flow regimes.
For the accurate prediction of two-phase flow behaviors with
the drift-flux model in vertical large diameter pipes, a complete
set of the models including the constitutive correlations for the dis-
tribution parameter and the drift velocity is required. Based on the
experimental data in short vertical large diameter pipes, a lot of
constitutive correlations for the distribution parameter and the
drift velocity have been proposed for the two-phase flow in a ver-
tical large diameter. The available 12 constitutive correlations for
the distribution parameter and the drift velocity in our literature
survey are summarized in Table 1. Since these existing correlations
142 X. Shen et al. / International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow 52 (2015) 140–155

Table 1
Two-phase drift-flux type correlations for large-diameter channels.

Researchers Distribution parameters, C0 (–) Drift velocity, vgj (m/s) Application range
 1=4
Chexal et al. (1991) L
where K 0 ¼ B1 þ ð1  B1 Þ qg
q
, V 0gj C g
K 0 þð1K 0 Þhair f

L ¼ minb1:15hai 0:45
; 1:0c for air–water, where C g ¼ ð1  haiÞB1
1:0þ1:57qg =qf  1=4
r¼ 1B1 V 0gj ¼ 1:41 rgqD2 q C2 C3 C4
f

B1 is a variable depending on Re C 2 ; C 3 ; C 4 are variables depending on qf ,


Reg Reg > Ref or Reg < 0 hjf iDH qf hjg iDH qg
Re ¼ qg ; DH ; Ref ¼ lf , Reg ¼ lg
Ref Reg 6 Ref

Clark and Flemmer 0:934ð1 þ 1:42haiÞ  1=4

1:53 rqg
(1985) f

Clark and Flemmer 1:95hjg i þ 0:93hjf i 0.25

(1986) hji
Cunningham and Yeh  0:239  a  
q hjg i hjf i 0:6
hai ¼ 0:925 qg ,
(1973) f 1:53ðg r=qf Þ1=4 hji

hjg i
where a = 0.67 if < 1,
1:53ðg r=qf Þ1=4
hjg i
a = 0.47 if P1
1:53ðg r=qf Þ1=4
  1:69  qffiffiffiffi qffiffiffiffi  1=4 !
Hibiki and Ishii (2003) hj i q q Bubbly flow hai 6 0.3
exp 0:475 hjig 1  qg þ qg V gj;B exp 1:39hjg i rgqD2 q
f f
f
hjg i
" !# 06 6 0:9
  1=4 hji
þV gj;P 1  exp 1:39hjg i rgqD2 q
f
h  
hj i
i qffiffiffiffi
q
 qffiffiffiffi
q  1=4 ! Bubbly flow hai 6 0.3
2:88 hjig þ 4:08 1  qg þ qg rg Dq
f f V gj;B exp 1:39hjg i q2 h jg i
f
" 0:9 < 61
 1=4 !# h ji
þV gj;P 1  exp 1:39hjg i rgqD2 q
f
8 "  9
< 1=4 #2:22 = V gj;P Cap bubbly flow
1:2 exp 0:110 hji rgqD2 q hai > 0.3
: f ;  1=4
 qffiffiffiffi qffiffiffiffi 0 6 hji rgqD2 q 6 1:8
qg qg
1 q þ q f
f f
( ( "  1=4 #) )
V gj;P Cap bubbly flow
0:6 exp 1:2 hji rgqD2 q  1:8 þ 1:2 hai > 0.3
f
 qqffiffiffiffi qffiffiffiffi  1=4
q
1 qf
g
þ qf
g
hji rgqD2 q > 1:8
f

Hills (1976) 1:35=hji0:07 0.24 hjfi P 0.3

 
1.0 ð1  haiÞ 0:24 þ 4:0hai1:72 hjfi < 0.3

qqffiffiffiffi qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Hirao et al. (1986) 1:2  0:2 qg 0:52 gDqH Dq
f f

qqffiffiffiffi  1=4 
Kataoka and Ishii h i0:5 0:809 q 0:157 N lf 6 2:25  103
1:2  0:2 qg
(1987) f 0:0019 rgqD2 q DH q ðqrq Þ g
qf N 0:562
lf h i0:5
f f f g
DH q ðqrq Þ 6 30
f f g
qqffiffiffiffi  1=4  
1:2  0:2 qg qg 0:157 0:562 N lf 6 2:25  103
f 0:030 rgqD2 q q N lf h i0:5
f f
DH q ðqrq Þ > 30
f f g
qqffiffiffiffi  1=4  
1:2  0:2 qg qg 0:157 N lf > 2:25  103
f 0:92 rgqD2 q q
f f

 qffiffiffiffi
Murase et al. (1986) q
1:2  0:2 qg ð1  e18hai Þ h a i < h ac i
f
 qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi  2 h a i P h ac i
1:0 þ 0:2 1  qg =qf 1  ha1h
ihac i
ac i
qqffiffiffiffi    3=2
q q
hac i ¼ 0:588  1:817 qg þ 2 qg  3:34 qg
f f f
 1=4  h i0:5 1=8   hai < 0.33
7:1 rgqD2 q DH q ðqrq Þ 1
hai  C 0 hai
1:6
f f f g

h i0:5 1=8  1=4   n o hai P 0.33

rg Dq 1:45
16:4fDH q ðqrq Þ g q2
1
hai  C 0 hai  lnð1  hai Þ
f f g f

qqffiffiffiffi  
Ishii (1977) 1:2  0:2 qg pffiffiffi rg Dq 1=4 Bubbly
f 2 q2 ð1  haiÞ1:75
f
qqffiffiffiffi qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
1:2  0:2 qg 0:35 gDH Dq Slug
f qf
qqffiffiffiffi  
1:2  0:2 qg pffiffiffi rg Dq 1=4 Churn
f 2 q2
f

qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi h i0:5
Ishii and Not given 0:54 gDqH Dq
f
DH q ðqrq Þ 6 30
Kocamustafaogullari f f g

Not given  1=4 h i0:5

(1985) rgðqf qg Þ DH q ðqrq Þ > 30
3:0 q2 f f g
f

 
Shipley (1984) 1.2 hj i 2 pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
0:24 þ 0:35 hjig gDH hai
 X. Shen et al. / International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow 52 (2015) 140–155
are the consummation of the work of former researchers for the
two-phase flow in a vertical large diameter, it is necessary to check
whether these correlations can predict the flow behaviors in long
vertical large diameter pipes or not.
In view of the complexity of the two-phase flow and difficulty of
the measurement in a long vertical large diameter pipe at low
liquid flow rate, the long large diameter pipe is the geometry being
less well investigated up to now. This study thus aims to experi-
mentally investigate the flow characteristics of bubbly-to-cap bub-
bly flows with wide range transitional behaviors in a long vertical
large diameter pipe at low liquid flow rate and to objectively eval-
uate all available constitutive correlations of the distribution
parameter and the drift velocity for large diameter pipes on the
basis of the newly-obtained experimental data in a long vertical
large diameter pipe.
2. Experimental
2.1. Experimental loop for two-phase flow
The present study was carried out by using a large scale test loop
of the adiabatic air–water two-phase flow in Japan Atomic Energy
Agency (JAEA). Fig. 1 shows the experimental facility layout. Puri-
fied water was used in the experimental loop and renewed every
day during the experimental period to maintain the water quality.
Water was kept in the lower reservoir tank, and was pumped with
a positive displacement, centrifugal pump, capable of providing a
constant head with minimum pressure oscillation. For adiabatic
air–water flow experiments, porous sinter tubes (10 mm high
and £74 mm) with circumferentially-aligned 2  80 holes of
£0.5 mm (see Fig. 1) were used as air injectors. The water, which
flowed through one Venturi flow meter, was divided into four sep-
arate flows and then mixed with air in the center of the mixer, while
the water, which flowed through the other Venturi flow meter, was
Fig. 1. Schematic of experimental apparatus.
143
divided into two separate flows and then mixed with the former
mixed air–water flow before they were injected into the test sec-
tion. The two-phase mixture flowed out of the test section to enter
a separator, namely, the open upper reservoir tank. The air was dis-
charged there and the water was circulated through the loop. The
water temperature was kept at a constant temperature within the
deviation of ±1 °C during each experimental period. Due to the high
pressure in the lower part of the facility, the test section was made
of stainless steel round pipe in the low part for its solidity and the
transparent acrylic resin round pipes in the upper part to enable
flow observation. All the pipes used for the test section were
200 mm in inner diameter and their overall height was 26 m. The
height of the upper reservoir tank is 2.5 m.
2.2. Measurements for two-phase parameters
The inlet water flow rate and water pressure were measured by
using Venturi flow meters (25 and 50 mm in inner diameters,
respectively) and a pressure gauge, respectively. The inlet gas flow
rate and gas pressure were measured by using orifice flow meters:
FE-H11-GAS (nominal flow rate: 73.8 Nm3/h) and FE-H12-GAS
(nominal flow rate: 47.5 Nm3/h), and a mass flow meter: FE-H20-
GAS (nominal flow rate: 2 Nm3/h) and a pressure gauge, respec-
tively. The accuracies of the liquid Venturi flow meters and the
gas orifice flow meters are ±0.1% FS (full scale) and ±0.5% FS respec-
tively at ambient temperature of 0–55 °C. The measurable range of
the pressure gauge is 0–5 kg/cm2 and its maximum measurement
error is 1% FS. 8 differential pressure gauges with maximum uncer-
tainties of ±0.1 kPa/m were used to simultaneously measure the
differential pressures along the axial flow. The pressure distribu-
tion along the flow was obtained by using the inlet pressure gauge
and the 8 differential pressure gauges. The water and air tempera-
tures were measured by 2 K-type thermocouples with maximum
uncertainties of ±0.1 °C. Based on the axial pressure distributions
and the fluid temperatures, the air density change along the flow
can be obtained. Thus the axial local superficial gas velocities can
be calculated from the inlet gas flow rate.
The experimental data from the 8 differential pressure gauges
were used to obtain the void fraction along the flow in the present
experiments. If the frictional pressure drop is negligible relative to
gravitational pressure drop, the volume-averaged void fraction
within the differential pressure measurement region is measured
by
DpDP
hai ¼ : ð2Þ
ðqg  qf Þg Dz
where DpDP, qg, qf, g and Dz are differential pressure from the dif-
ferential pressure gauge, gas density, liquid density, gravitational
acceleration and height of the measuring region respectively. By
assuming that the volume-averaged void fraction equals to the
area-averaged void fraction at the axial center of the measuring
region, we can obtain the axial local area-averaged void fraction.
In order to experimentally investigate the lengths of the large
cap bubbles in a large diameter pipe, this study measured chord
lengths (Lch) of the bubbles with optical multi-sensor probes in
the following way,
Ds01
Lch ¼  ðt 0;2hþ1  t 0;2h Þ; ð3Þ
t 1;2h  t0;2h
where Ds01, t0,2h, t0,2h+1,and t1,2h are the flow-directional distance
between the front sensor tip, 0, and the rear sensor tip, 1, of a
multi-sensor probe, the time when the front sensor tip, 0, touches
the front interface (2h) of the h-th bubble, the time when the front
sensor tip, 0, touches the rear interface (2h + 1) of the h-th bubble
and the time when the rear sensor tip, 1, touches the front interface
144 X. Shen et al. / International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow 52 (2015) 140–155

Table 2
18 flow conditions in present experiments.

hjfi (m/s) hjg0i (at z/D = 0) (m/s) P0 (at z/D = 0) (MPa) Tf (°C) Tg (°C)
Actual values Nominal values Actual values Nominal values
0.05047 0.0504 0.2106 0.203 0.2747 32.38 27.33
0.05039 0.1957 0.189 0.2776 32.51 26.83
0.05057 0.07357 0.0714 0.2987 26.18 25.42
0.05069 0.03375 0.0331 0.3206 34.17 27.31
0.05009 0.01803 0.0179 0.3313 29.80 23.60
0.1916 0.193 0.2034 0.203 0.2822 29.63 26.32
0.1934 0.1932 0.189 0.2822 29.87 24.62
0.1925 0.07151 0.0714 0.3079 28.98 24.91
0.1940 0.03325 0.0331 0.3287 30.25 23.29
0.2551 0.255 0.1996 0.203 0.2884 30.50 23.71
0.2537 0.1887 0.189 0.2907 31.56 25.50
0.2546 0.07062 0.0714 0.3141 31.37 26.00
0.2545 0.03308 0.0331 0.3333 30.91 22.52
0.3110 0.312 0.1985 0.203 0.2893 30.22 23.72
0.3121 0.1787 0.189 0.2946 33.42 25.99
0.3108 0.06992 0.0714 0.3146 29.39 26.77
0.3126 0.03237 0.0331 0.3359 32.56 22.10
0.3121 0.01779 0.0179 0.3436 30.86 27.00

Fig. 2. Flow regime map.
(2h) of the h-th bubble respectively. Since the large cap bubbles
usually rise one-dimensionally in the multi-dimensional two-phase
flow, it will be reliable for this method to measure their chord
lengths in a large diameter pipe.
2.3. Experimental conditions and measurement verification
The present study performed the experiments for 18 flow condi-
tions shown in Table 2 and Fig. 2. Table 2 tabulated the superficial
liquid velocity, hjfi, and the inlet superficial gas velocity, hjg0i, at
z/D = 0, accompanied by its corresponding local absolute pressure
(P0 at z/D = 0), the liquid phase temperature (Tf) and the gas phase
temperature (Tg). The nominal values of the hjfi and hjg0i, which
were obtained by averaging their actual values, will be used to rep-
resent the flow conditions in the following figures. Fig. 2 presented
the flow conditions on a flow regime map. In Fig. 2, the transition
line from bubbly to slug flow identified by Mishima and Ishii
(1984) and the transition line from wall peak radial phase distribu-
tion to core peak radial phase distribution proposed by Shen et al.
(2005a) were superimposed. In comparison to the short vertical
large diameter pipe, the pressures in the long vertical large diame-
ter pipe will be much greater and the resultant superficial gas veloc-
ity changes along the flow will be more significant. The axial
changes of the measured absolute pressures and the measured
superficial gas velocities in the 18 flow conditions were shown in
Figs. 3 and 4. So the present experiments were under the flow con-
ditions of superficial liquid velocity, hjfi, ranging from 0.05009 to
0.3121 m/s, and superficial gas velocity, hjgi, ranging from 0.01779
to 0.5069 m/s.
We have assumed that the frictional pressure drop is negligible
relative to gravitational pressure drop in the void fraction mea-
surement with the differential pressure gauges. In order to confirm
this assumption, we calculated the frictional pressure drop and the
gravitational pressure drop in present experiments when hjfi takes
the maximum value of 0.3121 m/s. The two-phase friction multi-
plier were predicted by the equation of Chisholm (1967) for turbu-
lent flow and the accordingly required Darcy friction factor and
void fraction were calculated by Blasius equation and the drift flux
model of Hibiki and Ishii (2003) respectively in the calculation. The
calculation result showed that maximum ratio of the frictional
pressure drop to the total pressure drop is about 0.5% when hjgi
change from 0.01779 to 0.5069 m/s. So we can conclude that the
frictional pressure drop is negligible relative to gravitational pres-
sure drop in present experiment.
In order to further verify the accuracy of the void fraction mea-
surements by the differential pressure gauges, we compared them
with local void fraction measurements by the optical multi-sensor
probe method (Shen et al., 2005b, 2008a, 2008b and Shen and
Nakamura, 2013) and the X-type hot-film probe method (Bruun,
1995). The measurement errors in both comparisons are within
±10%.
 X. Shen et al. / International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow 52 (2015) 140–155 145

Fig. 3. Axial change of absolute pressure in the test section.

Fig. 4. Axial change of superficial gas velocity in the test section.

3. Flow regimes and their transitions
The agglomeration and coalescence of small bubbles have been
found to form the cap bubbles in the two-phase flow. Once a cap
bubble is formed, further bubble random collisions between the
cap bubble and the other bubbles and the wake entrainments of
the cap bubble follow and the cap bubble grows up in size. It is
easy for the cap bubble to reach the pipe size and to further grow
up in the length in small diameter pipe. So the flow regime transi-
tion from bubbly to slug flow happens suddenly in time and axial
distance and Dukler and Taitel (1977) and Mishima and Ishii
(1984) proposed the void fraction of 0.3 as the criterion for flow
regime transition from bubbly to slug flow in small diameter pipes.
However, in large diameter pipe it is time-consuming and axial-
distance-consuming for the flow to form a large cap bubble closing
to the pipe size, difficult for the formed pipe-size large cap bubble
to further greatly grow up in its axial length and almost impossible
for the flow to develop into the stable Taylor bubble flow regime as
that in the small diameter pipe. Ohnuki and Akimoto (2000) first
reported that the stable Taylor bubble can hardly be formed in
large diameter pipe. Prasser et al. (2005) attributed the absence
of well-shaped stable Taylor bubbles to the missing confining
action of the pipe walls in large diameter pipe. Here we can also
explain the phenomena by the reason that the collisions of the tur-
bulent eddies with the large cap bubble, shearing-off and interfa-
cial instability of the large cap bubbles greatly increase the
breakup probability of the large cap bubble and make the large
cap bubble over the pipe size no longer be sustained. So the flow
regime transition from bubbly to cap bubbly flow happens gradu-
ally as an important developing process in the large diameter pipe.
Relative to the sudden flow regime transition from bubbly to slug
flow in the small diameter pipe, the gradual growth of the develop-
ing cap bubbles and the gradual flow regime transition from bub-
bly to cap bubble flow are the important flow characteristics in the
large diameter pipes. Predictably, the gradual flow regime transi-
tion from bubbly to cap bubble flow cannot be shown completely
146 X. Shen et al. / International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow 52 (2015) 140–155

in a short vertical large diameter pipe. So the present experimental
data showing the whole picture of the flow regime transition in a
long vertical large diameter pipe are valuable for the modeling of
the flow.
According to the flow regime classification of Schlegel et al.
(2009) over void fraction range from 0.02 to 0.83 in a vertical large
diameter pipe of 0.15 m in diameter and 4.4 m in height, the 3 flow
regimes termed by bubbly, cap bubbly and churn flows were con-
cluded to exist in the flow. The range of gas flow rates and void
fractions in the present experiments did not reach values at which
the churn flow regime is observed. The observed bubbly and cap
bubbly flows were shown in the flow regime map of Fig. 2. Fig. 5
shows the typical images of two-phase flow development in time
and axial direction in the present experiments. The bubbly flow

107

82.8

41.5
t = 0s 0.01s 0.02s 0.03s 0.04s z/D
(a)

107

82.8

41.5
t = 0s 0.01s 0.02s 0.03s 0.04s z/D
(b)
Fig. 5. Typical images of two-phase flow development in time and axial direction in the long vertical large diameter pipe. (a) Flow condition of hjfi = 0.0504 m/s and
hjg0i = 0.203 m/s, (b) flow condition of hjfi = 0.312 m/s and hjg0i = 0.0331 m/s.
 X. Shen et al. / International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow 52 (2015) 140–155
regime was observed at low gas volumetric flux or high liquid vol-
umetric flux conditions and it is developing in the main flow direc-
tion in averaged-manner. The bubbly flow regime (see Fig. 5(b)) is
characterized by small dispersed bubbles moving upward along
the main flow. Significant local chaotic bubbly motions, namely
co-existing of upward and downward flows of liquid and bubbles
with random swirling motions, appear especially in low liquid flow
rate bubbly flow. The cap bubbly flow regime should be further
divided into the developing and fully-developed cap bubbly flow
regimes. The former (see Fig. 5(a) at z/D = 41.5 and 82.8) is charac-
terized by the rather successive appearance of the growing middle
and large cap bubbles that drift upwardly and fast among slowly
moving small bubbles by agitating the flow and producing strong
local turbulence and secondary flow. The latter (see Fig. 5(a) at
z/D = 113) is characterized by the intermittent appearances of
fully-developed large dominant coalescent cap bubbles among
the agitating small bubbles, whose diameters of volume-equiva-
lent sphere are comparable to or close to the pipe diameter. Base
on our high speed video camera observations, the 3 flow regimes,
namely bubbly, developing cap bubble and fully-developed cap
bubble flows, are sketched briefly in Fig. 6(a).
Upward-moving large cap bubbles play the dominant roles in
three-dimensional two-phase flow in large diameter pipe.
Although their characteristics are briefly illustrated in Fig. 6(a),
their whole structures cannot be seen clearly in Fig 5 because their
views are partly obstructed by swarms of small bubbles existing in
the liquid film region between the large cap bubble and the pipe
wall. The view obstruction feature in observing large cap bubbles
in large diameter pipe is quite different from that in other flow
channels (Dukler and Taitel, 1977; Shen et al., 2012b). This study
partly observed the large cap bubbles and detected their behavior,
their horizontal and vertical sizes and their shapes by observing
their visible parts and the motions of small bubbles near pipe wall
in the motion video. We found that the large cap bubbles always
keep irregularly deformed shapes and cannot grow to the inner
diameter of the large diameter pipe in the pipe cross-section.
Prasser et al. (2005) measured the flow by using wire-mesh sensors
and showed that the large cap bubble usually keeps its side surface
with large concave regions and has a diameter less than the pipe
diameter in the pipe cross-section. Ohnuki and Akimoto (2000)
and Omebere-Iyari et al. (2008) also reported the fact that the large
cap bubbles show irregular shapes. The large cap bubbles that are
apt to move around the center of the pipe will reduce the liquid
fraction holding free small bubbles in the center of the pipe and
will further force the free small bubbles to flow in the liquid layer
near wall. The lift force due to the velocity gradient also may push
the small bubbles to move toward the wall. The existence and the
lengths of the developing and dominant large cap bubbles are mea-
sured and shown in Fig. 6(b) by means of the probability density
functions (PDF) of bubble chord length at z/D = 41.5 and 113 at
inlet flow condition of hjfi = 0.0504 m/s and hjg0i = 0.203 m/s and
inlet flow condition of hjfi = 0.0504 m/s and hjg0i = 0.0331 m/s.
Although some measurement errors may be included in measuring
chord lengths of the multi-dimensionally moving small bubbles,
the measured chord lengths of bubbles in Fig. 6(b) reveals that
the large cap bubbles with chord length over 200 mm exist
in the fully-developed cap bubble flow, plenty of large developing
cap bubbles with chord length below 200 mm exist in the develop-
ing cap bubble flow and no significant large bubble flows in the
bubbly flow.
The developing cap bubbly flow regime is a kind of the flow
regime transition region between bubbly and fully-developed cap
bubbly flows. The start and the end of the developing cap bubbly
flow regime correspond to the incipience of small cap bubbles
and the incipience of fully-developed cap bubbles with the cross-
sectional diameter less than the pipe inner diameter respectively.
147
The measured void fractions (see Section 4) at the axial positions
corresponding to the start and the end of the bubbly-to-cap bubbly
transitions in the present experimental pipe of D = 20 cm were
shown in Fig. 7. The experimental data of Hibiki and Ishii (2000)
at the bubbly-to-slug flow transition in a pipe of D = 10.2 cm, the
criteria of Mishima and Ishii (1984) and Taitel et al. (1980) were
also illustrated in Fig. 7. These experimental data show that the
bubbly-to-cap bubbly transitions are dependent not only on the
void fraction but also on the axial position and the pipe diameter
in the vertical large diameter pipe. The axial flow development
brings about the transition to happen at relatively low void frac-
tions. The dependence of the transition on the axial position may
be attributed mainly to the bubble coalescence caused by the
increasing neighboring time of the bubbles along the flow develop-
ment (Hibiki and Ishii, 2000) and the expansion of gas phase
caused by local pressure reduction along the vertical flow develop-
ment. The increase of pipe diameter delays the happening of the
flow regime transition from bubbly to cap bubbly flow at higher
void fraction at the same axial position, that is to say, the flow
regime transition from bubbly to cap bubbly flow occurs at the
void fraction increasing with the growing pipe diameter in the
large diameter pipes. Since the pipe diameter increase has
increased the liquid Reynolds number and the wall-induced liquid
turbulence, the increasing shear force of the turbulence hinders the
formation of the cap bubble by increasing probability of bubble
breakup. This mechanism may result in the delay of the happening
of the flow regime transition from bubbly to cap bubbly flow as the
pipe diameter increases in a vertical large diameter pipe. The tra-
ditional flow regime transition criteria of Mishima and Ishii
(1984) and Taitel et al. (1980), resulting from the analysis of max-
imum allowable packing of bubbles, indicate that the flow regime
transition happens at constant void fractions of 0.3 and 0.25
respectively. These criteria may not be suitable for the prediction
of flow regime transition in a long large diameter channel since
the increasing neighboring time of the bubbles, the expansion of
gas phase along the flow and the increasing shear force of the tur-
bulence in the long large diameter channel may cause the flow
regime transition to happen at a void fraction quite different from
0.3 or 0.25.
4. Experimental results for axial void fraction distributions
Fig. 8 shows the axial behavior of the average void fractions
obtained by the differential pressure measurement in the present
experiments. In general, the decrease in superficial gas velocity
and the increase in superficial liquid velocity cause the decrease
in the measured void fractions in whole and the measured void
fractions increase in the axial direction, accompanying the
expansion of gas phase caused by local pressure reduction along
the flow. However, the experimental data in Fig. 8 obviously show
that the void fractions axially increase in an N-shaped changing
manner when the void fractions are over 0.1. In comparison to
the flow conditions with very low superficial gas velocity of
hjg0i = 0.0179 m/s, in which the void fractions increase monoto-
nously in the axial direction, the flow conditions with relatively
low superficial gas velocities of hjg0i = 0.0331 and 0.0714 m/s show
the characteristic that the void fractions first increase monoto-
nously, then decrease non-monotonously and finally increase
monotonously again in the axial direction, namely an N-shaped
axial void fraction transitions. In the flow conditions with high
superficial gas velocities of hjg0i = 0.189 and 0.203 m/s, the void
fraction first decreases in the axial direction in the region of
z/D 6 60 and then increases in the axial direction in the region of
z/D > 60 and a V-shaped axial void fraction recovery appears in
Fig. 8. Actually the V-shaped part is the second half of the N-shaped
148 X. Shen et al. / International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow 52 (2015) 140–155

(a)

(b)
Fig. 6. Flow regime sketches and bubble chord length distributions. (a) Sketches of bubbly, developing cap bubble and fully-developed cap bubble flows. (b) Approximate
bubble chord length distribution at the pipe centers in 3 flow regimes.
 X. Shen et al. / International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow 52 (2015) 140–155
Fig. 7. Dependence of void fraction at bubbly-to-cap bubbly transition on the axial
position and the pipe diameter.
axial void fraction transition in high superficial gas velocity condi-
tions. The N-shaped axial void fraction transition is characterized
by a temporary decrease of the void fraction in the axial flow
direction.
This phenomenon is due to the formation of cap bubbles and
their further development into the fully-developed dominant cap
bubbles, which correspond to the developing cap bubbly flow
and the fully-developed cap bubbly flow respectively. When the
developing cap bubbles form and further grow up, the drift velocity
Fig. 8. Axial developments of void fractions and their predictions with correlations of Hibiki and Ishii (2003).
149
of the two-phase flow will increase significantly. According to the
drift-flux model in Eq. (1), the void fraction will accordingly
decrease. When the developing cap bubbles reach their maximum
size resulting from the balance between their coalescence and
breakup, the drift velocity of the two-phase flow will not increase
and the void fraction will stop decreasing in the axial direction.
Then, the expansion of gas phase caused by local pressure reduc-
tion along the flow direction will restart the monotonous increas-
ing of the void fraction. It should be mentioned here that this void
fraction decrease along the flow were observed in our previous
measurements with optical four-sensor probes and X-hot film
probes (Shen et al., 2010 and Shen et al., 2012a). However, the local
measurements at two or three axial positions prevented us from
getting the whole picture of the two-phase flow in the long vertical
large diameter pipe.
Since the N-shaped axial void fraction transition can attribute to
formation and growth of the developing cap bubbles, namely the
flow regime transition from bubbly flow to developing cap bubbly
flow and further to fully-developed cap bubbly flow, it may be pos-
sible and necessary to predict the phenomenon by using the drift
flux model with proper constitutive correlations for the distribu-
tion parameter and the drift velocity.
5. Drift-flux model evaluations
The one-dimensional drift-flux model of Eq. (1) with the avail-
able 12 constitutive correlations for the distribution parameter and
the drift velocity shown in Table 1 was used to calculate the void
150 X. Shen et al. / International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow 52 (2015) 140–155

Table 3 comparisons in the plot of hjgi/hai versus hji. Table 3 then tabulates
Evaluations of the drift-flux type correlations based on the present experimental data. the average relative deviations between the measured and pre-
Two-phase flow drift-flux Average Are the Can the N- dicted void fractions, the capabilities of these constitutive correla-
correlations relative impacts of shape axial tions to deal with the impacts of different fluids and different
deviations different fluids void pressures and the capabilities to predict the N-shape axial void
between the and different fraction
measured and pressures transition
fraction transition.
predicted void included be The constitutive correlations of Chexal et al. (1991) were devel-
fractions (%) through predicted? oped as a generalized form for air–water, steam–water, and refrig-
physical erant two-phase flows. They depend on pressure, temperature,
properties?
hydraulic diameter and flow conditions of the two-phase flow,
Chexal et al. (1991) ±25.34 Yes No but are independent of flow regimes. The correlations cover verti-
Clark and Flemmer (1985) ±13.88 Yes No
cal (up and down), horizontal and inclined co-current flows and
Clark and Flemmer (1986) ±9.588 No No
Cunningham and Yeh ±52.29 Yes No vertical counter-current flows. These correlations are usually
(1973) called EPRI drift-flux model which is currently used in RELAP 5-
Hibiki and Ishii (2003) ±10.18 Yes No 3D computer code and other numerical calculations such as Chen
Hills (1976) ±12.13 No No et al. (2001). The drift-flux correlation part for vertical air–water
Hirao et al. (1986) ±32.19 Yes No
co-current flows is shown in Table 1. The model is entirely empir-
Kataoka and Ishii (1987) ±19.57 Yes No
Murase et al. (1986) ±30.72 Yes No ical, and thus may have some inaccuracies when trying to predict
Ishii (1977) ±12.54 Yes Yes, it can flows being not included in the original benchmarking data set.
be roughly The average relative deviation between the measured void frac-
Ishii and ±19.95 Yes No
tions and the predictions of Chexal et al. (1991) correlations is
Kocamustafaogullari
(1985) ±25.34%. The great deviations are further illustrated in Fig. 12 (no
Shipley (1984) ±13.59 No No predictable void fraction for hjfi = 0.0504 m/s). The constitutive cor-
relations cannot predict the N-shaped axial void fraction transition
observed in the long vertical large diameter pipe.
fractions for the present 18 flow conditions in this study. The cal- The drift flux correlations of Clark and Flemmer (1985) were
culated void fractions were compared with the present experimen- developed based on their own experimental data with the mixture
tal results in Table 3 and Figs. 9–12. Figs. 9–12 illustrate the volumetric fluxes ranging from 0.7 to 2.7 m/s and the void fraction

Fig. 9. Comparisons of Ishii (1977), Hibiki and Ishii (2003) and Hirao et al. (1986) drift-flux correlations with present experimental data.
 X. Shen et al. / International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow 52 (2015) 140–155
Fig. 10. Comparisons of Kataoka and Ishii (1987), Hills (1976) and Shipley (1984) drift-flux correlations with present experimental data.
ranging from 0.05 to 0.25 in a large pipe with an inner diameter of
0.10 m and a height of 4 m. Although their correlations predicted
the present experimental data with the average relative deviation
of ±13.88% as shown in Fig. 11, their correlations did not take into
account the effect of physical properties on the distribution param-
eter. Consequently, Clark and Flemmer’s correlations may not be
applicable to other fluid systems such as high pressure steam–
water flow conditions. The correlations cannot predict the N-
shaped axial void fraction transition observed in the long vertical
large diameter pipe.
The drift-flux type correlations of Clark and Flemmer (1986) are
the modified correlations of Clark and Flemmer (1985) based on
the same experimental data. These correlations gave the best pre-
dictions for the present void fraction data with the average relative
deviation of ±9.59% among all the drift flux correlations in Table 1
as shown in Fig. 12. However, Clark and Flemmer (1986) did not
consider the effect of physical properties on the distribution
parameter and the drift velocity in the modified correlations and
the effect of the flow development. Thus, the applicability of these
correlations to other fluid systems such as high pressure steam-
water flow is still questionable and the correlations cannot predict
the N-shaped axial void fraction transition observed in the long
vertical large diameter pipe.
Other than the various drift-flux models, Cunningham and Yeh
(1973) developed a practical empirical correlation to predict a void
fraction for rod bundle systems under pool conditions based on data
from PWR fuel bundle assembly (480 heated rods) experiments
151
under simulated small-break LOCA (Loss-Of-Coolant Accident) con-
ditions. This correlation does not have a general form of drift-flux
model using a distribution parameter and a drift velocity. Although
the correlation of Cunningham and Yeh (1973) included the impacts
of different fluids and different pressures through physical proper-
ties, the correlation predicted the present void fraction data with
the average relative deviation of ±52.29% and Fig. 12 showed that
this correlation cannot give a reasonable prediction for the two-
phase flows in long vertical large diameter pipe.
Hibiki and Ishii (2003) found that the flow regime at the test
section inlet affects the liquid circulation pattern resulting in
inlet-flow-regime dependent distribution parameter and drift
velocity. Two types of drift flux correlations based on different inlet
flow regimes, namely bubbly and cap bubbly flows, were proposed.
These drift flux correlations include the physical properties of the
two phases and relates the distribution parameter and drift veloc-
ity to the local liquid and gas flow rates. It should be mentioned
that the drift flux correlations developed by Kataoka and Ishii
(1987) were adopted for cap bubbly flow with void fraction greater
than 0.3 in their drift flux correlations. The comparison between
the predictions of the drift-flux correlations of Hibiki and Ishii
(2003) and the present experimental data in Table 3 and Figs. 8
and 9 showed that the correlations give a good prediction with
the average relative deviation of ±10.18% for the void fractions in
the present long vertical large diameter pipe. Since the flow
developing effect in a long pipe is not considered in the drift-flux
correlations of Hibiki and Ishii (2003), they are not able to predict
152 X. Shen et al. / International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow 52 (2015) 140–155
the N-shaped axial void fraction transition observed in the long
vertical large diameter pipe.
Hills (1976) performed tests with a large pipe with an inner
diameter of 0.150 m and height of 10.5 m for superficial gas veloc-
ities of 0.070–3.5 m/s and superficial liquid velocities of 0–2.7 m/s.
Hills developed drift-flux correlations based on his own experi-
mental data. However, the effect of physical properties on the dis-
tribution parameter and the drift velocity are not included in these
correlations. Therefore, Hills’s correlations may not be applicable
to other fluid systems such as high pressure steam-water flow con-
ditions. Although the correlations gave the reasonable predictions
for the present void fraction data with the average relative devia-
tion of ±12.13% as shown in Fig. 10, Hills (1976) did not consider
the effect of flow development on the distribution parameter and
the drift velocity in their correlations and their correlations cannot
predict the N-shaped axial void fraction transition observed in the
long vertical large diameter pipe.
Hirao et al. (1986) conducted experiments with a large pipe of
0.102 m diameter. Their experimental flow conditions included
steam-water two-phase flows with liquid and gas volumetric flux
below 1 and 4 m/s respectively. They also proposed a correlation
for the drift velocity. It is noted that drift velocity obtained by their
correlation can become infinitely large for a very large diameter
pipe. Although their correlation can give an acceptable prediction
for the flow with fully-developed cap bubbles in Fig. 9, its predic-
tions for the bubbly flow are poor. The overall predicting average
relative deviation, relative to the present measured void fractions,
is ±32.19%. The N-shaped axial void fraction transition observed in
the long vertical large diameter pipe cannot be predicted due to the
Fig. 11. Comparisons of Ishii and Kocamustafaogullari (1985), Clark and Flemmer (1985) and Murase et al. (1986) drift-flux correlations with present experimental data.
lack of consideration for the effect of flow development on the flow
regime transition.
Kataoka and Ishii (1987) developed drift velocity correlations
for pool void fraction based on various experimental conditions.
Their correlations show that the drift velocity is dependent upon
vessel diameter (for small diameter pipes only), system pressure
and fluid properties. The correlations gave a reasonable prediction
for the present developing and fully-developed cap bubbly flows,
but its predictions for the bubbly flow were questionable as shown
in Fig. 10. Their overall average relative deviation is ±19.57%. The
correlations of Kataoka and Ishii (1987) failed to predict the N-
shaped axial void fraction transition observed in the long vertical
large diameter pipe.
Murase et al. (1986) performed steam-water two-phase exper-
iments. The test section has four circular channels with an inner
diameter of 0.0405 m and a height of 1.055 m. A single heater
rod is installed inside each flow channel for generating steam flow.
The correlations for distribution parameter and drift velocity were
developed based on their experimental data. The impacts of differ-
ent fluids and different pressures on the distribution parameter
and drift velocity were considered in their correlations, but the cor-
relations over-predicted the void fractions in the present long ver-
tical large diameter pipe, as shown in Fig. 11, with the average
relative deviation of ±30.72% and failed to predict the N-shaped
axial void fraction transition observed in the long vertical large
diameter pipe.
Ishii’s drift flux correlations (1977) were developed as a com-
prehensive model for small-diameter channels and represents
the starting point for many later models. An expression for the
 X. Shen et al. / International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow 52 (2015) 140–155
distribution parameter was developed semi-empirically, and mod-
els for the drift velocity in each flow regime were developed such
that they account for the dependence on void fraction, fluid prop-
erties and pipe diameter. The drift flux correlations of Ishii (1977),
together with the flow regime transitional criterion of Mishima
and Ishii (1984), acceptably predicted the present experimental
data in the long vertical large diameter pipe as shown in Figs. 9
and 13 with the average relative deviation of ±12.54%. Except for
the flow regime transitional regions (namely, the developing cap
bubbly flow regime), they gave the reasonable predictions for the
experimental data in Figs. 9 and 13. The drift flux correlations of
Ishii (1977) can roughly predict the N-shaped axial void fraction
transition observed in the long vertical large diameter pipe since
they include the drift velocity dependence on the flow regimes.
There are two points that should be mentioned here. The first is
that, as the presence of slug bubbles was assumed, the drift veloc-
ity dependence on the pipe diameter in small diameter cannot be
extended to the fully-developed cap bubbly flow in large diameter
pipes. Otherwise the physically unrealizable and infinitely large
drift velocity will be resulted in very large diameter pipes. The sec-
ond is that it is not reasonable to use the sudden bubbly-to-slug
flow transition of Mishima and Ishii (1984) or Taitel et al. (1980)
in the vertical large diameter pipe flow where the flow regime
transition happens gradually.
Ishii and Kocamustafaogullari (1985) developed a theoretical
correlation for the drift velocity for cap bubble flow in a large
diameter channel. Their correlation suggests that the drift velocity
increases with the channel diameter and reaches a constant value
Fig. 12. Comparisons of Clark and Flemmer (1986), Cunningham and Yeh (1973) and Chexal et al. (1991) drift-flux correlations with present experimental data.
153
h i0:5
depending on physical properties at DH q ðqrq Þ ¼ 30, corre-
f f g
sponding to DH = 0.09 m for air–water systems at atmospheric
pressure. The correlation was derived under the assumption that
the surface of the cap bubble was smooth. In the two-phase flows
observed in the long vertical large diameter pipe, large bubbles can
be highly deformed due to significant turbulences. They did not
give any correlation for distribution parameter; however Ishii’s
correlation for the distribution parameter (Ishii, 1977) is usually
used with this correlation for the drift velocity. The impacts of dif-
ferent fluids and different pressures on the distribution parameter
and drift velocity were considered in their correlation, but the cor-
relation gave the under-prediction and over-prediction for the void
fractions in bubbly flow and the fully-developed cap bubbly flow
respectively in the present long vertical large diameter pipe, as
shown in Fig. 11, with the average relative deviation of ±19.95%
and were not able to predict the N-shaped axial void fraction tran-
sition observed in the long vertical large diameter pipe.
Shipley (1984) conducted experiments with a large pipe of an
inner diameter of 0.457 m and height of 5.64 m. Drift flux correla-
tions were developed based on this data. Since his correlations for
the drift velocity depends on the pipe diameter, the drift velocity
may become infinitely large for very large diameter pipes. The
impacts of different fluids and different pressures on the distribution
parameter and drift velocity were not considered in his correlations.
The correlations by Shipley (1984) predicted the present experimen-
tal data with the average relative deviation of ±13.59% as shown in
Fig. 10 and were not able to predict the N-shaped axial void fraction
transition observed in the long vertical large diameter pipe.
154 X. Shen et al. / International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow 52 (2015) 140–155
Fig. 13. Axial developments of void fractions and their predictions with correlations of Ishii (1977).
In view of the above evaluations of given drift-flux correlations,
there is no correlation set for the distribution parameter and drift
velocity that may be completely applicable to the long vertical
large diameter pipe flows and give a good prediction for the N-
shaped axial void fraction transition of the two-phase flow in the
long vertical large diameter pipe. Further development of new cor-
relations for the distribution parameter and drift velocity, which
take into account of physical property of the fluid, pipe diameter
effect and flow regime transition (namely flow development), is
desirable for the two-phase flow in the long vertical large diameter
pipe. Before the accomplishment of the new correlation develop-
ment, the drift flux correlations of Hibiki and Ishii (2003) are rec-
ommended to use for the prediction of the two-phase flow in the
long vertical large diameter pipes.
6. Summary and conclusion
An air–water two-phase experimental study has been per-
formed on the flow regime transition from bubbly to cap bubbly
flow in a long vertical large diameter pipe with an inner diameter
of 200 mm and a height of 26 m. The superficial liquid velocity
ranges from 0.05009 to 0.3121 m/s and the superficial gas velocity
ranges from 0.01779 to 0.5069 m/s. Visual flow observations
showed that the flow regimes of bubbly, developing cap bubbly
and fully-developed cap bubbly flows appear in the present exper-
imental conditions. Unlike the sudden flow regime transition from
bubbly to slug flow in small diameter pipes, the formation and
gradual growth of developing cap bubbles and the gradual flow
regime transition from bubbly to fully-developed cap bubbly flow
through developing cap bubbly flow regime are the important flow
characteristics in the long vertical large diameter pipe. The present
experimental data, as well as those of Hibiki and Ishii (2000),
showed that the flow regime transitions are dependent not only
on the void fraction but also on the axial distance in the flow and
the pipe diameter. As a notable axial void fraction profile for flows
in the long vertical large diameter pipe, the void fraction axially
varies in an N-shaped changing manner in the flow direction. This
phenomenon can be attributed to the formation of developing cap
bubbles and their gradual growth into fully-developed dominant
large cap bubbles in the flow.
The existing 12 drift flux correlations developed for the experi-
mental data from small diameter pipes and short vertical large
diameter pipes are reviewed and studied to validate their predictive
capability of the N-shaped axial void fraction changing behaviors
observed in the present long vertical large diameter pipe experi-
ment. The predicted results from these drift flux correlations by
comparing with the present experimental data have shown that
some correlations such as those of Clark and Flemmer (1986),
Hibiki and Ishii (2003), Hills (1976) and Ishii (1977) can give reason-
able predictions for the void fractions with average relative devia-
tion ranging from ±9.59% to ±12.5%. However, they all failed to
properly predict the observed N-shaped axial void fraction transi-
tion behavior. A further development of new set of drift flux correla-
tions that fully consider the influences of pipe diameter, flow regime
transition and physical property of the fluid may greatly increase the
accuracy in the void fraction prediction for two-phase flow.
 X. Shen et al. / International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow 52 (2015) 140–155
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to express their sincere appreciation to
Kansai Atomic Society (Kangenkon) of Japan for the financial
support in this study.
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