Two phase pressure drop across abrupt area changes in oscillatory flow

The ability of one-dimensional momentum balances to predict behavior during two-phase oscillatory flow has been examined. Flow oscillations in a Freon-Freon vapor system were induced by cycling a three-way valve so as to divert a varying portion of the total flow from the test section. The data taken included the phase shift between pressure and flow curves and the head fluctuation to flow fluctuation ratio. These data were compared to theoretical predictions. For void fractions below about 0.55, reasonable agreement between predictions and observations was obtained. At the highest void fractions examined, agreement between prediction and measurement was poor. However, at these high void fractions measurement errors may have been very substantial. Further, the simplifying assumptions required by the numerical calculation procedure chosen could no longer be considered valid. No real conclusion could therefore be drawn from the data at high voids. (auth)