ABSTRACT

The term "two-phase flow" covers an extremely broad range of situations, and it is possible to address only a small portion of this spectrum in one book, let alone one chapter. Two-phase flow includes any combination of two of the three phases solid, liquid, and gas, i.e., solid-liquid, gas-liquid, solid-gas, or liquid-liquid. Also, if both phases are fluids (combinations of liquid and/or gas), either of the phases may be continuous and the other distributed (e.g., gas in liquid or liquid in gas). Furthermore, the mass ratio of the two phases may be fixed or variable throughout the system. Examples of the former are nonvolatile liquids with solids or noncondensable gases, whereas examples of the latter are flashing liquids, soluble solids in liquids, partly miscible liquids in liquids, etc. In addition, in pipe flows the two phases may be uniformly distributed over the cross section (i.e., homogeneous) or they may be separated, and the conditions under which these states prevail are different for horizontal flow than for vertical flow.