SE-14-002 — Phase-Splitting Algorithm for Ice Slurry Heterogeneous-Flow Pressure Drop in Straight Pipe Flow

Concerning the current methods for determination of the pressure drop on heterogeneous ice slurry pipe flow, this paper focuses on discovering a way of calculation that can be valid for all ranges of particle sizes, pipe diameters, or ice-packing fractions (IPF). Based on the principle of solid-liquid two-phase flow, the total pressure drop in a pipe can be regarded as a sum of the liquid part and the solid one, which is called a phase-splitting algorithm in this paper. The solid part aroused by ice particles can be treated as a result of the energy assumption caused by the friction between ice particles and fluid. For horizontal pipe ice slurry flow, a chart of relative velocity between phases of ice slurry is presented, and for vertical pipe the relative velocity obtained by numerical calculation also performs well by this algorithm. The algorithm can also be used to illustrate the phase’s interaction and the proportion of each phase that has contributed to the total pressure drop under different conditions, The relative error of results is smaller than 15%, which can meet engineering accuracy requirements.