ABSTRACT
In the present chapter the focus is on the hydraulics of two-phase flow, which includes phase configuration, pressure drop relations, and critical flow. The discussion in Chapter 5 indicates the wide range of possibilities for the selection of the sets of equations to be solved. The appropriate set of equations (more commonly called the model) for a particular two-phase flow system is influenced by the conditions of the system. The more detailed models can be laborious to solve because of the requirement for a large computing effort. The less detailed models introduce certain simplifying assumptions that are not always correct but can be solved more readily. Thus, it is appropriate to start the process of analyzing the two-phase flow systems by asking the following questions:
1. What is the number of flow dimensions that need to be represented? The difficulty of solving a multidimensional problem greatly exceeds that of a one-dimensional flow problem. In fact, there is relatively little information regarding the multidimensional effects on the flow hydraulics, and most of the existing information is related to one-dimensional channel flow.
