Equal quality distribution of gas–liquid two-phase flow by partial separation method

This paper proposes a new method for equal quality distribution of gas–liquid two-phase flow by partial separate-phase distribution with a dual-header distributor. The upper and liquid (lower) headers are interconnected with five vertical downward arms. A gas–liquid two-phase mixture enters the distributor from the upper header where most of the liquid of the mixture is removed through the downward arms into the liquid header. Hence, firstly, the remaining gas-rich fluid can be uniformly distributed into the outlet branches, and then secondly, the liquid collected in the liquid header can be uniformly re-distributed into the individual outlet branches. Because both distribution processes are conducted in the condition of single or near single-phase flow, mal-distribution of the two-phase flow is essentially eliminated, and a satisfactory equal quality distribution of gas–liquid two-phase flow is reached. Experiments were conducted in an air–water two-phase flow test loop. The inner diameter of the inlet pipe was 60 mm, the superficial velocity ranges of gas and liquid were 3–32 m/s and 0.02–0.17 m/s respectively, and the quality ranged from 0.02 to 0.44. The flow pattern in the inlet pipe included stratified flow, wavy stratified, slug flow, and annular flow. The experimental results showed that this new method could significantly improve the distribution performance of the two-phase flow. The maximum quality deviation between each outlet branch and the inlet pipe is less than ±1% under the conditions of stratified, wavy stratified and slug flows in the upper header, and less than ±5% in annular flow.