Experimental studies of liquid-liquid dispersion in a turbulent shear flow

TL;DR

This study investigates liquid-liquid dispersions in turbulent Taylor-Couette flow, analyzing flow characteristics, turbulence transition, and dissipation, revealing increased torque in two-phase flows compared to single-phase flows.

Contribution

It provides experimental insights into how liquid-liquid dispersions affect turbulence and dissipation in a Taylor-Couette system, including torque scaling and flow characterization.

Findings

Torque per unit mass can double in two-phase flows

Flow transition thresholds are characterized

Long-term behaviors of dispersions are observed

Abstract

We study liquid-liquid dispersions in a turbulent Taylor - Couette flow, produced between two counterrotating coaxial cylinders. In pure Water and in counterrotation, Reynolds numbers up to 1.4 10^5 are reached. We first characterize the single-phase flow, in terms of threshold for transition to turbulence, scaling of the torque and measurements of the mean flow and of the Reynolds stress by stereoscopic PIV. We then study the increase of the dissipation in the two-phase flows and find that the torque per unit mass can be twice the torque for a single-phase flow. Long-time behaviours are also reported.