Backlight imaging tomography for gas–liquid two-phase flow in a helically coiled tube

Air-water two-phase flow in a helically coiled tube is investigated using backlight imaging tomography to elucidate the effect of centrifugal acceleration on phase distribution and interfacial structure. Superficial velocities up to 6 m s(super -1) in 20 mm diameter tube are tested. We focused on a slug flow regime in which centrifugal acceleration dominates the flow. The interfacial structure is visualized in six directions using a set of originally designed mirror-mounted water jackets. A temporal expansion image is made from line-sampled images and is used to reconstruct phase distribution through a linear backward projection algorithm. The present topography measurement showed various new features of gas-liquid two-phase flow in a helically coiled tube, such as a wall-covering effect in the case of high superficial velocity.