MANSOURA UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
MECHANICAL POWER DEPARTMENT

Experimental and Numerical

Study of an Airlift Pump
A project report
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of B.sc in Mechanical Power Engineering

By
Elsayed Moaaz Elsayed Mohamed Ali
Mohamed Gamal Ali Ali Montaser
Mohamed Gamal Mohamed Zaki Helal
Mohamed Mohamed Elsayed Mohamed Ahmed

Under Supervision of
Assoc. Prof. Dr.
Mohamed Hassan Mansour
Mechanical Power Engineering
Dept. Faculty of Engineering
Mansoura University

2018
 ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We would like to express our gratitude to Allah and our supervisor
Prof. Mohamed Mansour for his support during this project. We are
exceedingly thankful to him for giving us this opportunity to work with him
and for believing in our throughout the course of completion of this project.
His valuable advice and persistent encouragement have helped us a lot to
complete our project work successfully. Working under his supervision was
indeed a pleasure and inspiration for us.

We also like to thank the staff of Mechanical Department for

providing us necessary amenities to finish this project.

Last but not the least; we would like to express our profound gratitude
our parents for their blessings without which this task could never have
been accomplished.

Project’s Team

I
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENT ................................................................................................................................... I
LIST OF FIGURES........................................................................................................................................ IV
LIST OF EQUATIONS ................................................................................................................................... V
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS............................................................................................................................. V
LIST OF SYMPOLS ...................................................................................................................................... VI
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................... VIII
CHAPTER 1 CLASSIFICATION OF PUMPS .......................................................................................................1
1.1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................................2
1.2 PUMPS ..........................................................................................................................................................2
1.3 TWO-PHASE REVIEW .....................................................................................................................................6
CHAPTER 2 AIRLIFT PUMP ...........................................................................................................................9
2.1 PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION ................................................................................................................................. 10
2.2 CONSTRUCTION .............................................................................................................................................. 10
2.3 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES................................................................................................................... 11
2.4 APPLICATIONS ................................................................................................................................................ 12
2.5 LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................................................................ 12
2.6 GAPS IN LITERATURE ........................................................................................................................................ 14
2.7 AIMS AND OBJECTIVE ...................................................................................................................................... 14
CHAPTER 3 EXPERIMENT DATA .................................................................................................................. 15
3.1 EXPERIMENT SETUP ......................................................................................................................................... 16
CHAPTER 4 EXPERIMENT RESULTS & DISCUSSION ...................................................................................... 18
4.1 WATER FLOW RATE ......................................................................................................................................... 19
4.2 THE PUMP EFFICIENCY ...................................................................................................................................... 23
4.3 EFFECT OF AIR INJECTION DIAMETER ................................................................................................................... 24
4.5 EFFECT OF DISTRIBUTION THE AREA OF INJECTION ................................................................................................. 29
4.6 EFFECT OF MAKING EXPANSION AND CONTRACTION LOSSES IN RISER ........................................................................ 34
CHAPTER 5 METHODOLOGY ...................................................................................................................... 40
5.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................... 41
5.2 NUMERICAL CALCULATION ........................................................................................................................ 41
5.3 GOVERNING EQUATIONS............................................................................................................................ 42

II
 5.4 GEOMETRY AND GRID SPECIFICATION ....................................................................................................... 45
5.5 BOUNDARY CONDITIONS............................................................................................................................ 46
5.6 SOLUTION METHOD ................................................................................................................................... 46
5.7 RESIDUALS .................................................................................................................................................. 47
5.8 VALUES OF PARAMETERS FOR SIMULATION .............................................................................................. 47
CHAPTER 6 NUMERICAL RESULTS .............................................................................................................. 48
6.1 GRID INDEPENDENCE ................................................................................................................................. 49
6.2 VALIDATION ................................................................................................................................................ 50
6.3 NUMERICAL RESULTS ................................................................................................................................. 51
CHAPTER 7 CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................... 56
7-1 CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................................. 57
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................................. 58

III
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure ‎1-1 : Pump Classifications.............................................................................................................................3
Figure ‎1-2 : vane pump ...........................................................................................................................................4
Figure ‎1-3 : Gear pump ...........................................................................................................................................4
Figure ‎1-4 : Characteristic curve .............................................................................................................................5
Figure ‎1-5 : Centrifugal pump .................................................................................................................................5
Figure ‎1-6 : vertical flow patterns ...........................................................................................................................7
Figure ‎1-7 : Horizontal flow patterns ......................................................................................................................8
Figure ‎2-1 : Air-lift pump constructions ............................................................................................................... 10
Figure ‎3-1 : A schematic diagram of the experimental setup. ............................................................................. 17
Figure ‎4-1 : Variation of air mass flow rate with water mass flow rate at submergence ratio = 0.7 .................. 19
Figure ‎4-2 : Photos present the sequence of the flow patterns .......................................................................... 20
Figure ‎4-3 : Variation of water mass flow rate with air mass flow rate at different values ................................ 22
Figure ‎4-4 : Variation of pump efficiency with air mass flow rate ....................................................................... 24
Figure ‎4-5 : effect on injection diameter on water mass flow rate ..................................................................... 26
Figure ‎4-6 : effect of injection diameter on efficiency ......................................................................................... 28
Figure ‎4-7 : distribute injection area .................................................................................................................... 29
Figure ‎4-8 : injection diameter effect on water mass flow rate .......................................................................... 31
Figure ‎4-9 : injection diameter effect on efficiency ............................................................................................. 33
Figure ‎4-10 : effect of expansion and contraction losses .................................................................................... 34
Figure ‎4-11 : performance curves for expansion & contraction losses ............................................................... 36
Figure ‎4-12 : expansion & contraction efficiency................................................................................................. 38
Figure ‎4-13 : the difference in flow pattern with accumulator ........................................................................... 39
Figure ‎5-1 : Representation of mesh with 53321 nodes describing Air-lift pump ............................................... 45
Figure ‎6-1 : Variation of drag coefficient at outlet with nodes ............................................................................ 49
Figure ‎6-2 : validation of flow pattern at different AMFR ................................................................................... 50
Figure ‎6-3 : pressure distribution across the riser ............................................................................................... 52
Figure ‎6-4 : fluctuation in water mass flow rate (study time 3s) ......................................................................... 53
Figure ‎6-5 : Flow regime in the up riser pipe of ALP from time t = 0.1 sec to t = 2.0s with AMFR of 8 kg/h ..... 54
Figure ‎6-6 : Flow regime in modified riser pipe of ALP from time t = 0.1 sec to t = 0.5s with AMFR of 8 kg/h ... 55

IV
LIST OF EQUATIONS
Equation ‎4-1 : efficiency equation -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 23
Equation ‎5-1 : volume fraction for each phase ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 42
Equation ‎5-2 : continuity equation ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 42
Equation ‎5-3 : momentum equation ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 43
Equation ‎5-4 : turbulence kinetic equation --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 43
Equation ‎5-5 : Turbulence dissipation energy equation ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 43

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
ALP Air-Lift Pump

AMFR Air mass flow rate

VOF Volume of fluid

V
LIST OF SYMPOLS
A pipe cross-sectional area, m2
D pipe diameter, m
g gravitational acceleration, m/s2
Hs static depth of water, m
Hd static lift
L pipe length, m
Ls pipe suction length, m
P pressure, N/m2
Q volume flow rate (discharge), m3/s
SR submergence ratio = Hs/L
V velocity, m/s
 Density, kg/m3
 Efficiency, %
Re Reynolds number
Volume fraction
k& Turbulent Prandtl numbers.

t Turbulent viscosity.

Turbulent dissipation rate, m2/s3

K Turbulent kinetic energy, m2/s2

VI
Subscripts
a atmospheric
gs gas as a single phase
g gas
L liquid
Ls liquid as a single phase
S solid

t turbulent

VII
 ABSTRACT
Recently, there is a basic necessity to have a very highly reliable pump with low
maintenance. Moreover, for pumping of various kind of fluid like corrosive, abrasive,
or even radioactive, an air-lift pump (ALP) is very much useful. The only negative
point of the ALP is that it has very low efficiency compared with other kinds of pumps.
Therefore, the goal of present study is to perform an exhaustive research to increase the
performance efficiency of the air-lift pump.

The purpose of the present research is to capture experimentally and numerically

the performance of the air lift pump when it is operated under different flow regimes.
To fulfill this objective, an air-lift pump is designed and numerically simulated using a
commercial software ANSYS. Simulations were performed by varying the air mass
flow rates (AMFR). It is inferred that AMFR played a dominant role in improving the
pump’s performance and efficiency. The obtained numerical results have been validated
with the experimental data and a good agreement was obtained. Also, it is concluded
that for obtaining a good efficiency in an ALP, it should be operated either in slug or
slug-churn flow regime.

VIII
 Chapter 1
CLASSIFICATION OF PUMPS

1
1.1 INTRODUCTION
The development of mechanical pumps was intimately linked with the progress
of vacuum science up to the middle of the last century when the introduction of both
the sputter ion pump and the sublimation. Pump provided an alternate method for
the production of low pressure. Nevertheless, the mechanical pumps are, with the
exception of the sorption pumps, the unavoidable initial stage before any attempt can
be made to activate capture pumps and to reach the ultra-high vacuum domain. This is
due to their ability to evacuate efficiently from the vacuum vessel the large number of
molecules present at atmospheric pressure. However the limited compression ratio of
the pumps limits the achievable ultimate pressure. In this section an overview of the
operating principles and of the characteristics of these pumps will be illustrated.

1.2 PUMPS
In the pumps, the gas present in a vacuum system is transferred from a low
pressure to higher pressure region. In order to be efficient, the pump has to provide
simultaneously a finite pumping speed and compression. To carry out this double task
two main mechanisms have been used up to now Figure 1-1.

1-Isolation and subsequent compression of a gas volume defining a first category often
named "Positive-displacement pumps"

2-Transfer of the gas molecules of a preferential velocity direction is introducing a

mean drift of the gas towards the high pressure region. It’s known as "Momentum
transfer pumps"

2
 Air-lift pump

Centrifugal
Momentum
transfer
Axial
propeller

Mixed flow

Internal
Gear
Pumps External

Unbalanced
Fixed Vane
Balanced
Screw

Positive
displacement Piston

Vane Unbalanced
Variable
Piston

Figure ‎1-1 : Pump Classifications

3
1.2.1 Positive displacement pump
A positive displacement pump has an expanding cavity on the suction side and a
decreasing cavity on the discharge side. Liquid flows into the pump as the cavity on the
suction side expands and the liquid flows out of the discharge as the cavity collapses.
The volume is constant given each cycle of operation.

Types:
a- Fixed displacement pumps as:

- (Internal and external) gear pump, ( balanced and Unbalanced) vane

pump, screw pump and fixed- displacement piston pump.

b- Variable displacement pumps as:

- Variable displacement - Unbalanced vane pump and Variable

displacement piston pump.

Gear pump shown in “Figure 1-3” and vane pump shown in” Figure 1.2"

Figure ‎1-3 : Gear pump

Figure ‎1-2 : vane pump

4
1.2.2 Momentum transfer pumps
It is a rotor dynamic pump that uses a rotating impeller to increase the pressure
and flow rate of a fluid. Momentum transfer pumps "Centrifugal" pumps are the most
common type of pump used to move liquids through a piping system. The fluid enters
the pump impeller along or near to the rotating axis and is accelerated by the impeller.

Types:

-Air-lift pump.

-Centrifugal pumps "Figure 1-4".

-Axial flow pumps.

-Mixed flow pumps.

Characteristic curve for positive displacement pump and Momentum transfer pump is
shown in "Figure 1-5".

Figure ‎1-4 : Characteristic curve

Figure ‎1-5 : Centrifugal pump

5
1.3 TWO-PHASE REVIEW
There are four type of Two-Phase Flow:

(Gas-Liquid, Gas-Solid, Liquid-Liquid and Liquid-Solid)

Gas-liquid flows are the most complex, since they combine the characteristics of
a deformable interface and the compressibility of one of the phases. For given flows of
the two phases in a given channel, the gas-liquid interfacial distribution can take any of
an infinite number of possible forms. However, these forms can be classified into types
of interfacial distribution, commonly called flow regimes or flow patterns. Detailed
discussions of these patterns are given by Hewitt (1982), Whalley (1987) and (Dukler
& Taitel) (1986) .

1-The regimes encountered in vertical flows are illustrated blew “Figure 1-6"

i) Bubble Flow: where the liquid is continuous, and there is a dispersion of bubbles
within the liquid.

ii) Slug or Plug Flow: where the bubbles have coalesced to make larger bubbles
which approach the diameter of the tube.

iii) Churn Flow: where the slug flow bubbles have broken down to give oscillating
churn regime.

iv) Annular Flow: where the liquid flows on the wall of the tube as a film (with some
liquid entrained in the core) and the gas flows in the center.

6
v) Wispy Annular Flow: where, as the liquid flow rate is increased, the
concentration of drops in the gas core increases, leading to the formation of large
lumps or streaks (wisps) of liquid.

Figure ‎1-6 : vertical flow patterns

2-The regimes encountered in Horizontal flows are illustrated blew "Figure 1-7"

i) Bubbly flow: In case of horizontal flow, the bubbles accumulate on the top for
moderate liquid velocity.

ii) Plug/Slug flow: As the air flow rate increases, the bubbles coalesce and form long
plugs which are also confined to the upper region of the tube. The intermittent liquid
slugs may or may not be aerated.

iii) Stratified flow: With further increase of air flowrate, plugs coalesce to form
stratified flow. At relatively lower flowrates the interface is smooth.

7
vi ) wavy flow: while at higher flowrates, the interface becomes wavy and the wave
amplitude increases with phase velocities

v) Annular flow: This has the same appearance as mentioned in vertical flow and is
characterized by a continuous gas core and an annular liquid film between the gas
core and the pipe wall. However, the film thickness is not uniform and the liquid film is
substantially thicker at the bottom of the pipe.

Figure ‎1-7 : Horizontal flow patterns

8
 Chapter 2
AIRLIFT PUMP

9
2.1 Principle of operation
Air-lift pump (ALP) is equipment used for raising fluid mixture or mixture of
fluid-solid through an up-riser pipe, partly filled with the liquid by injecting
compressed air at the bottom end of up-riser. The air then moves up along with the
fluid. Its principle of operation is based on the buoyancy force exerted by air to liquid.
Moreover, air added reduces the specific gravity of fluid mixture, and because it
becomes lighter than surrounding liquid, it is pushed up.

2.2 Construction
The main components are:
1. Air Compressor “to supply compressed air”
Figure ‎2-1 : Air-lift pump constructions
2. Air Pipe “fitted with one or more nozzles”

3. Delivery pipe

10
2.3 Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages:

 The airlift pump is not having any moving parts below water level and hence
there are no changes of suspended solid particles damaging the pump.
 This pump can raise water through a bore hole of given diameter than any other
pump.
 This pump is very suitable where decompressed air is available.
 This pump is suitable for raising solid particles.

Disadvantages:

 Conventional airlift pumps have a flow rate that is very limited.

 Very low efficiency, only (20 to 40) % energy available in form of useful water
horse-power.
 It cannot lift water when the level of water in deep well goes down below limit.
 The suction is limited.

11
2.4 Applications
-Airlift pumps are often used in deep dirty wells where sand would quickly
abrade mechanical parts.

-Airlift pumps are used to collect fauna samples from sediment. They are also
sometimes used in part of the process on a wastewater treatment plant if a small head
is required.

2.5 Literature review

The first airlift pump is considered to be invented by the German engineer Carl
Emanuel (1797), by (1882), researchers understood the working principle of an air-lift
pump but the practical implementation of it didn’t appear until the commencement of
mid of the twentieth century.
Among the early classical theories of the ALP, some of them were presented by Harris,
Lorenz as mentioned by Stapanoff (1929). Harris took into account the force of
buoyancy and analyzed the motion of bubble. He believed that buoyancy force is
mainly responsible for the working of pump, and he even obtained a relation between
bubble size, slip (velocity of a bubble of air relative to water) and discharge head.
Lorrenz used Bernoulli’s equation and applied its principle for an infinitesimally small
head for the flow in up-riser.
Stapanoff (1929) studied the effect of submergence, air to water ratio on the
efficiency from the thermodynamic point of view.
It was Bergeles (1949) who first studied the flow of the gas-liquid mixture
experimentally.
Later on, Stenning and Martin (1968) studied the performance of ALP and tried to
understand the effect of pipe diameter, submergence and air flow rate on it.

12
Sharma and Sachdeva (1976) inspected the performance of bigger diameter airlift
pump when operated at narrow pits. They studied how the performance of the pump
was affected by flow regime in up-riser.
For instance, Khalil and Mansour (1990) performed an experiment to investigate the
impression of the addition of small amount of surfactant in liquid to be lifted. They
concluded that when surfactants are used in small quantity it always improves pump’s
efficiency.
Then, DeCachard and Delhaye (1996) depicted experimentally that slug flow regime is
dominant in a small size diameter pump when it ran practically. A few studies were
also conducted to explore the weightage of liquid property such as viscosity, surface
roughness on the efficiency of ALP.
Iguchi andTerauchi (2001) observed the outcome of pipe wall wettability in the
transition from sluggish to bubbly flow regime and vice versa in a vertical pipe. For
wettability, the pipe was coated with a hydrophilic substance.
Furukawa and Fukano (2001) studied how viscosity affects the upward rising flow of
two-phase flow in an up-riser pipe consisting of air and water.
Hitoshi et al. (2003) found that point of injection plays a very crucial role on the
discharge rate of water. He further showed through experimentation that as injection
point of gas reaches above 45 times the up-riser diameter, then released water flow
rate reduces.
Kassab et al. (2008) studied the characteristics of ALP under two-phase flow
conditions. They performed experiments for all nine submergence ratios, also varied
three riser lengths and later compared the experimental data with theoretically
proposed model. They further concluded that ALP works efficiently in slug and slug-
churn flow regimes.

13
Later Hanafizdeh et al (2014) also studied gas lift phenomenon using both VOF and
Eulerian method.

2.6 Gaps in literature

As can be seen from literature review, no experiments were conducted to
investigate experimentally the effect of diameter change or the effect of the change of
the shape of riser. But, most of the work performed so far involves either an
experimental approach or a theoretical approach to model an air-lift pump. But, only a
few has been carried on this topic by numerical simulation to the best of the author’s
knowledge.

2.7 Aims and Objective

In the present study, effect of different flow regimes on the performance of an

air-lift pump, effect of air injection diameter variation and effect of the variation of
riser shape is investigated. Here, water and air flow rates are being varied to achieve
various flow patterns like a slug, bubbly, annular and churn flow condition for the
same submergence ratio. Moreover, conversion of flow regimes was also witnessed
and results were argued taking flow regime into account.

14
 Chapter 3
EXPERIMENT DATA

15
3.1 Experiment setup
The experimental setup used in the present study is schematically shown in
Figure 3-1. It consists of a vertical transparent pipe of 3.2 m length and 30 mm inner
diameter, and a down-comer of 30 mm inner diameter. The upper end of the riser is
connected to an overhead- collecting tank where the air escapes to atmosphere and
water flow rate is measured according to the water level in the tank using a calibrated
scale. The overhead tank is designed to absorb the water surface fluctuations and
damp free vortices and thus provides accurate flow rate measurements. Water may be
directed through a pipe to the drain. The movable water supply tank is kept at a
constant water head by overflowing the water through a pipe. The tank may also be
moved up or down to change the submergence ratio. Riser pipe is made of transparent
material for visibility of the flow structure.

Air is supplied to the air injection system from a central air compressor station.
The station consists of a 55 kW Ingersoll Rand reciprocating compressor delivering 4.2
m3/s of free air per minute at a maximum pressure of 8 bar through a mass
refrigeration dryer and filtration system. Air flows from the air reservoir through a 10
mm diameter pipeline to an on/off valve, then to a pressure-reducing valve
(regulator), where the pressure is reduced to the desired working pressure to cover
the required experimental range. Air is then injected into the riser at a constant
pressure that can be measured by the pressure gage. Then a constant air mass flow
rate passes through an air jacket around the vertical pipe using an air injector. The
volume of air is measured using a calibrated rotameter. In the present study, two
techniques were used for the air injection. Firstly, the air was injected through one
small hole (7 and 10 mm) into the mixing section, which is 68 cm above the lower end
16
of the pipe. Then, another technique was used by injecting air through 16 small holes
of 2.5 mm diameter, which are uniformly distributed around the pipe perimeter in four
rows and four columns to insure uniform feed of the air into the pipe at the mixing
section. Various submergence ratios (from 0.4 to 0.8) were investigated in the present
study. This range of submergence ratios was obtained in increments approximately
0.1, that covers most industrial applications where the air-lift pump is used. For each
submergence ratio, the air-flow rate was varied and the corresponding flow rate of
water was measured. In order to obtain specified and planed measurements, a specific
operating procedure was followed for each run.

Figure ‎3-1 : A schematic diagram of the experimental setup.

1. Riser, 2.Down comer, 3.Overhead collecting tank, 4.Drain, 5.Water feeding tank, 6.Over flow pipe, 7.Compressor,
8.Pressure gage, 9. Air-jacket, 10. Rotameter

17
 Chapter 4
Experiment results &
discussion

18
4.1 Water flow rate
The results of lifting water in the riser tube of an air-lift pump 10mm air
injection diameter , at various values of air mass flow rates corresponding to different
values of air injection pressures are presented. Figure 4-1 shows the water flow rate as
a function of the air-flow rate at a submergence ratio of 0.7. Using flow visualization,
Figure4-2 , and the experimental results, it was noticed that for low values of air mass
flow rate from 0 to 1 kg/h depends on the submergence ratio, no water is lifted due to
the buoyant force exerted by the air bubbles is not enough to raise any water. The
total quantity of air penetrates the water column without lifting any water. Fig. 3a
shows that the flow regime is totally bubbly for very small values of air-flow rate. As
the air mass flow rate is increased, a train of air slugs starts to develop in the pipe. The
biggest bubble is located at the upper part of the pipe while the smallest one is located
at the lower part of the pipe. The train of air slug moves slowly upwards leaving the
pipe without any bubbles for a few seconds. The distribution is then repeated after a
few seconds. This is because the air takes a few seconds to accumulate in the lower
end of the pipe.
800
water mass flow rate

700
kg/h

600 Submergence ratio = 0.7

Fitting line
500

400
0 2 4 6 8 10
air mass flow rate
kg/h

Figure ‎4-1 : Variation of air mass flow rate with water mass flow rate at submergence ratio = 0.7

19
A B C D E F

Figure ‎4-2 : Photos present the sequence of the flow patterns

(a) Bubbly, (b) bubbly to slug, (c) slug, (d) slug-churn, (E and F) churn.

The structure of the slug flow in the pipe can be described by a sequence of a
big air slug followed by a water column that contains some small air bubbles and then
smaller air and water slugs. The cycle is then repeated as shown in Figure 4-2B-C. This
observation agrees with the experimental work by Sekoguchi et al. (1981). This
sequence of slug formation may be due to the time taken to charge enough quantity
of air capable of lifting a certain amount of water. This explains the oscillation of the
air injection pressure. The oscillation and the instability of the pump were studied by
Hjalmars (1973). He found that, for a large air-lift pump, when the static lift was

20
increased to about 30-40 pipe diameters, the instability of the air-lift pump starts.
However, when the value of the static lift reached a critical value, instability sets in
with a periodic and increasing variation of water discharge around its stationary value.
The flow instability will be discussed in detail in chapter 6. The reason of these
oscillations was also discussed by Sekoguchi et al. (1981). They referred this behavior
to the compressibility of the gas in the gas–liquid two-phase mixture and reversal of
water flow from the two-phase mixing section to the head tank. In the present study a
very small variation was observed, and hence the instability effects were neglected.

The reason for the transition from bubbly to slug flow is that, as the gas flow is
increased, the bubbles get closer together and collision occurs. Therefore, some of the
collisions lead to coalescence of bubbles and eventually to the formation of slugs. For
a submergence ratio of 0.6, the lifting of water becomes noticeable at a value of air-
flow rate of approximately 1.5 kg/h. Any slight increase in the airflow rate beyond that
value causes the water flow rate to increase rapidly. It is noted that in the region
where the water mass flow rate is increasing (from 379 to 480 kg/h), the flow regime is
mostly slug-churn flow. In addition, the maximum flow rate of water (500 kg/h) occurs
when the flow pattern is slug-churn flow. As can be seen in Figure 4-1, the water mass
flow rate increases as the air mass flow rate increased, until it reaches a maximum
value. It was noticed that, in the region in which the water flow rate increases, the
flow pattern changed from slug to slug-churn flow as shown in “Figure 4-2 “e–f. This
can be explained as follows: as the gas slug rises through the liquid, the direction of
gas velocity inside the slug is upwards, while the water velocity direction in the thin
film around the air slug is usually downwards, so the flow is counter current. At some
critical value of air mass flow rate the gas velocity will suddenly disrupt the liquid film
(the film will flood) and therefore the slug flow will break down to give churn flow with
21
pulsating, highly unstable pattern, as suggested by Nicklin (1963). It is noted that the
region of the slug-churn flow is the main region where the pump should be operating.
The quantity of lifted water remains almost constant for a small range of air-flow
rates. Physically, the maximum water flow rate is reached when the frictional pressure
drop caused by further addition of air exceeds the buoyancy effect of the additional
air, as was explained by Reinemann et al. (1986). Measurements were performed at
different values of submergence ratios, and the results are shown in Figure4-3. It is
clear that the performance curves of the air-lift pump are shifted upward while the
submergence ratio is increased. All the performance curves at different values of
submergence ratio and injection diameter =10mm have similar trend. Also, during the
experiments, it was noticed that the flow pattern changes by the same sequence as
indicated earlier (for the 0.4 submergence-ratio case). In addition, Figure 4-3 shows
that, for a fixed value of air mass flow rate, the water flow rate increases with the
increase of the submergence ratio.

900
800
700
water mass flow rate

600
500 SR=0.8
kg/h

400 SR=0.7

300 SR=0.6

200 SR=0.5
100 SR=0.4
0
0 2 4 6 8 10
air mass flow rate
kg/h

Figure ‎4-3 : Variation of water mass flow rate with air mass flow rate at different values

22
4.2 The pump efficiency
The definition of the air-lift pumps efficiency is given by Nicklin (1963) as:

Equation ‎4-1 : efficiency equation

Where QL is the water discharge, Qa is the volumetric flow rate of air, Pin the injection
pressure of air,  is the liquid density and Pa is the atmospheric pressure. Pump
efficiency versus air mass flow rate, for a submergence ratio of 0.7 & injection
diameter =10mm, is shown in Figure 4-4a. As the air mass flow rate is increased, the
decrease rapidly. The efficiency curves at different values of submergence ratio are
presented in Figure4-4b. They have similar trend as the one presented in Figure 4-4a
for submergence ratio of 0.7. In addition the best efficiency range is in the first region
of the performance curve, which is a slug flow region. Comparing the water mass flow
rate results presented in Figure 4-3 with the efficiency results presented in Figure 4-4,
it is important to notice that, the maximum efficiency does not occur at the maximum
water mass flow rate for all values of submergence ratio.

50
45
40
35
30
 25
20
15 SR=0.7
10
5
0
0 2 4 6 8 10
air mass flow rate
kg/h

(a) Submergence ratio = 0.7

23
 50
45
40
35
30
SR=0.8
 25
SR=0.7
20
SR=0.6
15
SR=0.5
10
SR=0.4
5
0
0 2 4 6 8 10
air mass flow rate
kg/h

(b) Different values of submergence ratio.

Figure ‎4-4 : Variation of pump efficiency with air mass flow rate

4.3 Effect of air injection diameter

The effect of injection diameter was also studied in the present study. This was
done by fixing the submergence ratio and varying the injection diameter. Experiments
were performed for submergence ratio values of 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, and 0.8. The
performance curves of the pump are presented for each case in Figure 4-5 a, b, c, d
and e.

24
 SR=0.4
250

200 Fig.4.5a
water mass flow rate

150
kg/h

d=7mm
100 d=10mm

50

0 air mass flow rate

0 1 2 3 kg/h 4 5 6 7

SR=0.5
400 Fig.4.5b
water mass flow rate

300
kg/h

200
d=7mm
100
d=10mm
0
0 2 4 6 8
air mass flow rate
kg/h

SR=0.6
600
water mass flow rate

400 Fig.4.5c
kg/h

200 d=7mm
d=10mm
0
0 2 4 6 8
air mass flow rate
kg/h

25
 SR=0.7
800
water mass flow rate

600 Fig.4.5d
kg/h

400
d=7mm
200
d=10mm
0
0 2 4 6 8 10
air mass flow rate
kg/h

SR=0.8
1000
water mass flow rate

800
Fig.4.5e
600
kg/h

400
d=7mm
200
d=10mm
0
0 2 4 6 8 10
air mass flow rate
kg/h

Figure ‎4-5 : effect on injection diameter on water mass flow rate

26
The aim of the researches which were made in this field is to increase the efficiency of
this pump so the coming curves discus this point in Figure4-6a, b, c, d and e.

SR=0.4
25

20
Fig.4.6a
15
 d=7mm
10 d=10mm
5

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

SR=0.5
50
Fig.4.6b
40

30
 d=7mm
20
d=10mm
10

0
0 2 4 6 8

SR=0.6
60
Fig.4.6c
50
40
 30 d=7mm
20 d=10mm
10
0
0 2 4 6 8 10

27
 SR=0.7
60
50
40 Fig.4.6d

 30 d=7mm

20 d=10mm

10
0
0 2 4 6 8 10

SR=0.8
45
40
35
30 Fig.4.6e
25
 d=7mm
20
d=10mm
15
10
5
0
0 2 4 6 8 10

Figure ‎4-6 : effect of injection diameter on efficiency

The figures show that the efficiency stay the same compared to the old
diameter (7mm). We think that when the mass flow rate increase at the same air mass
flow rate the efficiency will increase but when we increase the diameter the velocity
decrease and the static pressure increase depend on the Bernoulli equation so
according to (Equation 4-1) equation the efficiency will decrease so the result will be
the same.

28
4.5 Effect of distribution the area of injection
The effect of distribution the area of injection was also studied in the present
study. This was done by equaling the area resulting from injection diameter 10 mm
and distributing it throw 16 holes which have the same summation area to basic area
Figure4-7. The diameter to each hole is 2.5 mm and fixing the submergence ratio to
compare between it. Experiments were performed for submergence ratio values of
0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, and 0.8. The performance curves of the pump are presented for each
case in Figure 4-8a, b, c, d and e.

Figure ‎4-7 : distribute injection area

29
 SR=0.4
200
water mass flow rate

150
kg/h

100
Fig. 4.8a
1D
50
16D
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
air mass flow rate
Kg/h

SR=0.5
400
water mass flow rate

300
kg/h

200
Fig. 4.8b
1D
100
16D
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
air mass flow rate
kg/h

SR=0.6
600
water mass flow rate

500
400
kg/h

300
Fig. 4.8c
200 1D
100 16D
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
air mass flow rate
kg/h

30
 SR=0.7
800
water mass flow rate

600
Fig. 4.8d
kg/h

400
1D
200
16D
0
0 2 4 6 8 10
air mass flow rate
kg/h

SR=0.8
1000
water mass flow rate

800
600 Fig. 4.8e
kg/h

400
1D
200
0 16D
0 2 4 6 8 10
air mass flow rate
kg/h

Figure ‎4-8 : injection diameter effect on water mass flow rate

31
The aim of the study which was made in this field is to increase the efficiency of this
pump so the coming curves discus this point in Figure 4-9a, b, c, d and e.

SR=0.4
10
9
8
7
6 Fig. 4.9a
 5
4 1D
3 16D
2
1
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
air mass flow rate
kg/h

SR=0.5
50
45
40
Fig. 4.9b
35
30
 25
20 1D
15 16D
10
5
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
air mass flow rate
kg/h

32
 SR=0.6
40

30
Fig.4.9c
 20
1D
10
16D
0
0 2 4 6 8 10
air mass flow rate
kg/h

SR=0.7
60
50
40 Fig.4.9d
 30
20 1D

10 16D

0
0 2 4 6 8 10
air mass flow rate
kg/h

SR=0.8
40

30 Fig. 4.9e
 20
1D
10
16D
0
0 2 4 6 8 10
air mass flow rate
kg/h

Figure ‎4-9 : injection diameter effect on efficiency

33
It is clear from previous data that the efficiency is higher in the case of one area of
diameter (10mm) than the case of 16 areas of diameter (2.5mm) in small air flow rate
and small submergence but when the air mass flow rate increases the difference
between efficiency decrease Figure 4-9a and when the submergence increases the
difference decrease also Figure 4-9e.

4.6 Effect of making expansion and

contraction losses in riser
The effect of making some losses in the riser and the effect of these losses on
the flow pattern were also investigated in this study. The air injection diameter is
constant (10 mm) but the only variable is the new riser shape. The shape and
dimensions of the new riser are shown in Figure 4-10. Experiments were performed
for submergence ratio values of 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, and 0.8. The performance curves of
the pump are presented for each case in Figure 4-11a, b, c, d and e.

Note (the dimensions in the figure in mm)

Figure ‎4-10 : effect of expansion and contraction losses

34
 SR=0.4
250
water mass flow rate

200

150
kg/h

100 Fig. 4.11a

original riser
50 modified riser
0
0 2 4 6 8 10
air mass flow rate
kg/h

SR=0.5
400
water mass flow rate

Fig. 4.11b
300
kg/h

200
original riser
100
modified riser
0
0 2 4 6 8 10
air mass flow rate
kg/h

SR=0.6
600
water mass flow rate

Fig. 4.11c
400
kg/h

200 original riser

0 modified riser
0 2 4 6 8 10
air mass flow rate
kg/h

35
 SR=0.7
800
water mass flow rate

600
kg/h

400 Fig. 4.11d

original riser
200
modified riser
0
0 2 4 6 8 10
air mass flow rate
kg/h

SR=0.8
1000
water mass flow rate

800
Fig. 4.11e
600
kg/h

400 original riser

200 modified riser
0
0 2 4 6 8 10
air mass flow rate
kg/h

Figure ‎4-11 : performance curves for expansion & contraction losses

36
The aim of the present study is to increase the efficiency of this pump, so, the
following curves discus this point (Figure 4-12a, b, c, d and e).

SR=0.4
10

8 Fig. 4.12a
6
h
4 original riser
2 modified riser

0
0 2 4 6 8 10
air mass flow rate
kg/h

SR=0.5
45
40 Fig. 4.12b
35
30
25

20
original riser
15
10 modified riser
5
0
0 2 4 6 8 10
air mass flow rate
kg/h

37
 SR=0.6
40

30

 20
original riser
10
modified riser
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 Fig. 4.12c
air mass flow rate
kg/h

SR=0.7
50
40
30 Fig. 4.12d

20
original riser
10
modified riser
0
0 2 4 6 8 10
air mass flow rate
kg/h

SR=0.8
40

30
Fig. 4.12e
 20
original riser
10
modified riser
0
0 2 4 6 8 10
air mass flow rate
kg/h

Figure ‎4-12 : expansion & contraction efficiency

38
 The previous curves show that the water mass flow rate is slightly increase for
SR=0.4 and 0.5, which means that the shape is above the starting water level but the
efficiency still the same from air mass flow rate =5kg/h. When the shape is below the
starting water level at SR=0.6, 0.7 and 0.8, the water mass flow rate decreases but also
the efficiency still the same from air mass flow rate =5kg/h.

It is found that there is a change in the flow pattern before and after the shape,
which will increase the pump efficiency in the annular flow due to the separation
between air and water in the inlet of the shape that make the flow to start again. It is
appears that the flow before the shape is bubbly & slug but after the shape is bubbly
Figure 4-13.

In the simple experiments without the shape, there is a large vibration in the
system and fluctuation in the water flow. On the other side, in the experiment with
the new shape, the vibrations and fluctuations were very small and the fluctuation,
which can be considered as an advantage for this new shape. The new shape works as
an accumulator and the system approach the steady state.

Figure ‎4-13 : the difference in flow pattern with accumulator

39
 Chapter 5
METHODOLOGY

40
5.1 Introduction
In this chapter, the methodology adopted for the present study is extensively
explained. To numerically simulate the problem, Finite Volume Method (FVM) with
Volume of Fluid Model (VOF) has been used. Two-dimensional axisymmetric unsteady
analysis has been performed to capture the flow regime (flow structure) properly.
Commercial CFD software Fluent in ANSYS 16 has been used to numerically simulate
the problem.

5.2 NUMERICAL CALCULATION

In the present study, Volume of Fluid (VOF) model has been used to numerically
simulate the two-phase flows in an upright pipe. The VOF model is used to solve the
multiphase problem that involves mixtures of two or more immiscible fluid by
continuity and momentum equation and keeps the record of the volume fraction of
each fluid throughout the whole system. It can be quite accurately used for both 2D as
well as 3D geometry. Tracking large bubbles in liquid mixture and tracking of steady or
transient fluid-gas interface are some of its major application. It depends on the fact
that two or more phases don’t interpenetrate. For modelling of phases it adds
additional volume fraction functions to the computational cells of control volume. So,
the volume fraction of each fluid comes into play to determine field variables and
properties. Based on all above mentioned advantages for simulating a multiphase
flow, VOF was used. Moreover, it was also suggested by Hanafizdeh et al., 2009 in his
Journal that for bubbly and slug flow VOF is most suited. Whereas, for annular,
Eulerian is more appropriate. For turbulence modelling, standard k-ε model is used.
The Standard k-ε is the most commonly used turbulence model. It is robust and

41
reasonably precise for a wide range of application. For near wall treatment standard
wall function has been used.

5.3 GOVERNING EQUATIONS

The governing equations used are shown below. Here, volume fraction a for
each phase

Such that:

Equation ‎5-1 : volume fraction for each phase

Where, n is number of phases involved in the problem.

Continuity Equation:
For ith phase

Equation ‎5-2 : continuity equation

42
Momentum Equation:
Unlike continuity equation, in momentum equation only is first solved for the
whole system and then computed velocity is distributed amid the phases present. The
momentum equation dependent on all phases is given as:

Equation ‎5-3 : momentum equation

Turbulence modelling using k-epsilon equation:

Turbulence kinetic energy k equation is used to determine the turbulence
velocity scale:

Equation ‎5-4 : turbulence kinetic equation

and Turbulence dissipation energy equation  is given by

Equation ‎5-5 : Turbulence dissipation energy equation

43
Gk = Generation of turbulence kinetic energy due to the mean velocity gradients.

Gb = Generation of turbulence kinetic energy due to buoyancy.

C1 ,C2 &C3 = constantsk &  =Turbulent Prandtl numbers.

Sk & Se = User-defined source terms.

tCk = The turbulent viscosity.

Advantage & Disadvantages of K- model

Advantage
 Relatively simple to implement.
 Leads to stable calculation.
 Widely validated turbulence model.

Disadvantages
 Poor predictions for:
- Swirling and rotating flow.
- Flows with strong separation.
- Certain unconfined flow.
- Fully developed flows in non-circular ducts.
 Valid only for fully developed turbulent flows.
 More expensive than mixing length model.

44
5.4 GEOMETRY AND GRID SPECIFICATION
The geometry of the given problem was created in a workbench. Firstly, x-y
plane was selected and a two-dimension axisymmetric profile of air-lift pump was
constructed. The up-riser pipe length is 320 cm. All the connected tubes have the
same diameter of 3 cm. For air inlet one passages of length 2mm were provided at the
height of 60 cm from the bottom. From this basic frame, surface was created. The
Grids have been prepared in Meshing Workbench. The mesh arrangement for 2D case
consists of 42056 nodes. The Grids have been created by default meshing scheme. For
Grid Independence test grids with nodes 23281, 30791, 38301, 42056, 45811, and
53321 have been considered, were also generated by varying the minimum edge size.
Moreover, named selection was also provided to the different zones where later
boundary conditions are to be provided.

Figure ‎5-1 : Representation of mesh with 53321 nodes describing Air-lift pump

45
 5.5 BOUNDARY CONDITIONS
Boundary conditions provided here divides the whole geometry into different
zones. For Air inlet, mass flow rate was enabled and then AMFR is varied for each case.
Next zone is water inlet in which pressure-inlet was enabled. And, for maintaining a
constant water level in riser pipe water volume fraction value, is set to unity. The next
zone is a water- air mixture outlet from which two-phase mixture comes out. It is
located at the top of up-riser pipe. To avoid any chances of reverse flow of air-water
mixture the backflow volume fraction of water is set to zero. To account the effect of
surface tension, the surface tension modelling was enabled, and a constant value of
0.072 was used.
Mass flow inlet
wall
air

Pressure in
Pressure out
water
mixture

axis

5.6 SOLUTION METHOD

Here, 2D planar flow has been considered where the phenomenon is transient.
Pressure based solver is used. As the system is vertical, gravity is also considered. For
turbulence modelling, standard k-ε model is used. The multiphase model has been
enabled along with two-phases which were air and water. Air is considered as primary
phase and water as a secondary phase. The pressure-velocity coupling is done by
SIMPLE scheme as it is strongly suggested for cases involving a transient flow,
especially in case of large time step. As the mesh is not distorted, skewness and
neighbor relaxation factors are set to unity. Under spatial discretization, Least Square

46
Cell Based Gradient has been used. In this scheme, PRESTO for Pressure, GEO-
CONSTRUCT for volume fraction has been used as suggested by Hanafizadeh et al.,
2014. Moreover, first order upwind for both turbulent kinetic energy and Turbulent
Dissipation Rate and second order upwind for momentum have been used. In
Transient Formulation scheme, first order upwind is used.

5.7 RESIDUALS
Under Residuals, the Convergence criteria for all the field variables (continuity,
x-velocity, y-velocity, k, and ε) are set to 1e-06. Time stepping method is used as fixed
type. The time step size is used as 0.0001 sec and maximum number of iteration per
time step is set to 30. Reporting interval and profile update interval is set to unity. The
case and date file are auto-saved with a regular interval of 0.01 sec.

5.8 VALUES OF PARAMETERS FOR SIMULATION

Turbulent kinetic energy k = 3.260327 x 10-12 m2/s2 and Turbulent dissipation
rate
ε = 1.547478 x 10-16 m2/s3. The fluid properties were set as: Density of water = 998.2
kg/m3
Viscosity of water = 0.001003 Pa-s, Density of air = 1.225 kg/m3, viscosity of air =
1.7894 ×10-5 Pa-s. Values of the model constants:C1 =1.44, C2 =1.92, C3=0.09,
k

47
 Chapter 6
NUMERICAL RESULTS

48
This section is devoted for conferring the results obtained after performing the
numerical simulation of an air-lift pump and attempts to discuss the various flow
regimes observed and list probable causes of variation. It consists of sections
describing grid independence and verification of numerical results.

6.1 GRID INDEPENDENCE

Grid independence test is an important test which should be conducted before
starting any analysis to validate the methodology. It is performed to avoid the
influence of grids on the computational results. Here, grid independence test is carried
out with the 2D air lift pump model. To perform this test, four different mesh
structures with nodes 23281, 30791, 38301, 42056, 45811, and 53321 have been
considered.

Grid Independence Test

2.00E-02

1.50E-02 Y-Values

Cd
1.00E-02

5.00E-03

0.00E+00
0 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 60000
number of nodes

Figure ‎6-1 : Variation of drag coefficient at outlet with nodes

49
6.2 VALIDATION
Experimental validation is an important test which is conducted to confirm
whether the results obtained from the numerical methods are similar to that obtained
from experimentation. Here, validation has been performed by comparing numerical
results obtained from the present methodology with the experimental results in
chapter 4. The validation results are categorically mentioned below.

The experiments and the numerical results are for the same input SR=0.7,
injection diameter =10mm. The pattern is periodic

AMFR=8.09Kg/ AMFR=6.6Kg/h AMFR=3.2Kg/h AMFR=2.3Kg/h

h Figure ‎6-2 : validation of flow pattern at different AMFR

50
6.3 NUMERICAL RESULTS
6.3.1 The driving force
The driving force is the bouncy force which is transferred to pressure difference.
Therefore, the pressure distribution through the riser is depicted in Figure 6.3 for
SR=0.7, AMFR=4.2 kg/h & injection diameter =10mm at different time steps.

L=1m,t=0.1s L=2m,t=0.1s L=3m,t=0.1s

L=1m,t=0.5s L=2m,t=0.5s L=3m,t=0.5s

51
 L=1m,t=1s L=2m,t=1s L=3m,t=1s

L=1m,t=2s
L=2m,t=2s L=3m,t=2s
Figure ‎6-3 : pressure distribution across the riser

52
6.3.2 The fluctuation in water mass flow
Hjalmars (1973). He found that, for a large air-lift pump, when the static lift was
increased to about 30-40 pipe diameters, the instability of the air-lift pump starts.
However, when the value of the static lift reached a critical value, instability sets in
with a periodic and increasing variation of water discharge around its stationary value
which appears in numerical results and experiments but we can’t capture it in the
experiments. The operation conditions for this case are 10mm air injection diameter &
the air mass flow rate is 8 Kg/h

3500

3000

Submergence ratio = 0.7

2500
water mass flow rate

2000
kg/h

1500

1000

500

0
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000
Time step

Figure ‎6-4 : fluctuation in water mass flow rate (study time 3s)

53
6.3.3 The flow pattern results
The results are for SR=0.7, AMFR=8kg/h and injection diameter = 10mm.

6.3.3.1 The origin shape of the riser

The pictures in the Figure 6.5 show that the pattern is different from beginning
until it was periodic and it doesn’t change across the time step that means the
operation at the beginning doesn’t express the real operation that appears also in
Figure 6.4.

t=0.1s t=0.3s t=0.7s t=1.5s t=2s

Figure ‎6-5 : Flow regime in the up riser pipe of ALP from time t = 0.1 sec to t = 2.0s with AMFR of 8 kg/h

54
6.3.3.2 The modified shape of the riser
We made also the calculation for the modified shape of the riser for the same input
data and it is clear that the pattern is totally changed from below the shape and above
it Figure 6.6. We think that it will help in increasing the efficiency in annular flow.

t=0.1s t=0.2s t=0.3s t=0.4s t=0.5s

Figure ‎6-6 : Flow regime in modified riser pipe of ALP from time t = 0.1 sec to t = 0.5s with AMFR of 8 kg/h

55
 Chapter 7
CONCLUSION

56
7-1 CONCLUSION
The performance of the air lift pump was studied both experimentally and numerically
under different operation conditions to reach the maximum efficiency condition. The
following concluding remarks can be deduced from the present study:

 As the submerged ratio increases, the maximum efficiency of the pump

increases at the same air-flow rate.

 The maximum efficiency does not occur at the maximum water mass flow rate.
 The best efficiency points always located in the slug or slug-churn flow patterns.
 Increasing the injection diameter increasing the water mass flow rate but not
affect the efficiency.

 Distributing the injection area reduce the fluctuation in the system but reduce
the efficiency and water mass flow rate.

 Making expansion & contraction in the same riser work as accumulator and
decreases the vibration and fluctuation but reduces the efficiency and water
mass flow rate in small AMFR.

 When increasing AMFR the water mass flow rate and the efficiency don’t
affected.

 Making expansion & contraction in the same riser make the flow pattern
different above and blow it and decrease the flow fluctuations.

 Volume of Fluid (VOF) model with Finite Volume Method (FVM) can be used
successfully to simulate and study the models related to two-phase flow in an
airlift pump.

57
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