Gerke S., Leuner H., Repke J.-U., 2018, Experimental Investigation of Local Film Thickness and Velocity Distribution Inside Falling Liquid Films on Corrugated Structured Packings, Chemical Engineering Transactions, 69, 1-6.
Understanding the complex fluid dynamics of the liquid phase in structured packing is crucial for the prediction of the separation performance of packed tower and for further optimization of the packing geometry. Detailed numerical investigations are useful to study a wide range of parameters, but require high computational effort and validation is required. Therefore, in this study, experimental investigations on the gravity driven liquid film flow phenomena over corrugated structured packing geometries are presented and evaluated. Due to the fragile nature of thin liquid films, nonintrusive optical measurements where performed through the backside of transparent moldings of packing geometries, thereby reducing optical distortion. To enable the investigation of three-dimensional flow phenomena a µ-Stereoscopic Particle Image Velocimetry (µSPIV) was adapted for thin liquid films. Measurements are performed on MONTZ-Pak B1.250 macro-structure with a smooth surface or a micro-structured surface at different locations. Values of film thicknesses and velocity distributions inside the falling liquid film are discussed in detail.
