Experimental Study of a Buoyant Particle Dispersion in Pipe Flow

A n experimental investigation of a solid–liquid dispersion pipe flow was conducted using a pulsed ultrasonic Doppler velocimeter. The solid phase was composed of buoyant particles dispersed in water. This particular two-phase flow was used to mimic the behaviour of ice–water flow. Four diagnostics were used to study the complex nature of the two-phase flow mixtures: mean velocity profiles, space-time diagrams, probability density functions (PDF) and cumulative probability distribution functions (CPDF) of velocities. The results allow detection of the different flow patterns with moving bed, sliding and saltation regimes. Visualizations of the flow supplement the velocity measurements.