FLASH DISCHARGE OF SUPERCRITICAL FLUID AND HIGH PRESSURE GAS THROUGH PIPES: EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND MODELLING

Abstract

Although the flash discharge of a supercritical fluid is of key importance for the safe design of safety valves and effluent lines, very few experimental and theoretical results have been obtained in the literature. In this paper is reported a systematic experimental study concerning the flash discharge of supercritical and gaseous Co₂, and gaseous N₂ under different conditions: temperature, pressure and mass of fluid, diameter and length of discharge pipes. The discharge flux can reach as high as 30000 kg. m⁻² ·s⁻¹ A theoretical model is developed for predicting the variation of fluid mass and other parameters during a discharge, and found to agree with observations to a first approximation.

KEYWORDS:

• Supercritical fluid
• Flash discharge
• Safety