DEVELOPMENTS IN PIPELINE COLUMN SEPARATION EXPERIMENTATION

This paper summarises developments in column separation experimentatio n in pipes at the University of Adelaide, South Australia. An experime ntal apparatus with a 37.2 m copper pipe of 22 mm diameter has been co nstructed. A very fast closure ball valve has been developed which pro vides a closure time of 5 to 10 milliseconds. Two problems in the deve lopment of the experimental apparatus are discussed in detail. First, a problem was encountered with the placement of two 150 mm long flow v isualisation polycarbonate sections in the pipeline. The discrete vapo ur cavity numerical model is used to simulate the effect of the presen ce of the polycarbonate sections in the experimental apparatus. Second , problems in obtaining accurate pressure readings from strain-gage ty pe pressure transducers have also occurred. Analysis of the experiment al results has led to the development of solutions to overcome these p roblems when investigating column separation in pipelines.