Axisymmetric turbulent mass transfer in a circular tube

Abstract

Solutions of the diffusion equation are obtained for mass transfer in a fully developed turbulent flow in a plain circular tube in two axisymmetric situations. The cases studied are a point source positioned at the centre of the tube and a ring source in the tube wall in which there is a uniform mass flux along a short length of the tube. The purpose of the work is to establish the correctness of the descriptions of the velocity profile and radial eddy diffusivities of mass and momentum in order to provide a firm base from which consideration of the non-axisymmetric situation could proceed.The turbulent velocity profile is deduced from a two-part model based on a sublayer profile and the Von Kármán similarity hypothesis. The radial eddy diffusivity of momentum is described by an expression due to Reichardt and Van Driest and from this the radial eddy diffusivity of mass as a function of radius is obtained by use of a ratio which takes account of fluid properties and the value of the radial eddy diffusivity.The analysis is substantiated by experiments carried out with nitrous oxide, Schmidt number = 0·77, for Reynolds numbers from 20,000 to 130,000. The concentration profiles measured at several axial positions downstream from the source are in good agreement with the analytical solutions in both cases. Direct measurements of the eddy diffusivity of mass and momentum were obtained as added confirmation and also gave good agreement with the theory.