Research on frictional resistance of bubbly flow in rolling rectangular ducts

For a flow system in a marine vehicle, rolling motion induced by ocean environment usually imposes a periodical force on the system. Experimental investigation was conducted on frictional resistance of bubbly flow in three rectangular ducts in rolling motion. The cross-sections of the three ducts have the same width of 43 mm but different heights of 1.41 mm, 3.25 mm and 9.96 mm. Rolling motion can easily cause the fluctuation of frictional pressure in the rectangular duct with larger height, therefore, a narrow duct is beneficial to restrain the effect of rolling motion on frictional resistance of bubbly flow. The additional pressure drop in ducts with heights of 1.41 mm and 3.25 mm can be neglected. Increasing the gas flow rate and the rolling amplitude or decreasing the rolling period would result in the increase of the fluctuation amplitude of the frictional pressure. A new correlation by modifying the parameter C in the Chisholm correlation was acquired to describe the hydrodynamic performance of bubbly flow for rectangular ducts in rolling motion, showing a good agreement with the experimental data.