Main R&D acitivities

Typical measurement results from the multiphase rig

• Numerical fluid flow analysis
• Experimental fluid flow analysis
• Development of methods, models and software

Numerical capabilities

The research is based on extensive use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD).

The group applies commercial software as Fluent. The research group is also developing an in-house code called FLOTRACS. This code is specially designed for modeling of multiphase flow, e.g. gas/solids flow.

Experimental facilities

Advanced multiphase flow rig with PIV laser measurements

Our test rig is designed for research on multi-phase offshore flows, separation, chemical reactors like stirred tanks and fluidized beds.

Measuring equipments include:

• Laser Doppler Anemometry (LDA)
• Phase Doppler Anemometry (PDA)
• Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV)
• Gamma Densitometer
• High-speed camera
• Advanced photographic equipment

Selected publications

• Vestøl, S. and Melaaen, M.C. (2007), PIV and gamma measurements of unprocessed gas flow in a horizontal and near horizontal test pipe. "13th international conference on multiphase production technology 2007", Edinburgh, UK, 13-15 June, 2007.
• Ratnayake, C., Datta, B.K. and Melaaen, M.C. (2007), A Unified Scaling-Up Technique for Pneumatic Conveying Systems, “Particulate Science and Technology”, vol. 25, pp. 289-302, 2007, Taylor & Francis Inc (ISSN 02726351).

  Contact information

  Prof. Morten C. Melaaen
  Faculty of Technology
  E-mail: morten.c.melaaen@hit.no

• Svendsen, K., Hagen, T.H. and Melaaen, M.C. (2007), Temperature Distribution in Selected Cross Sections of Induction Heating Coils, “HES-07, Int. Sym. on Heating by Electromagnetic Sources, Induction, Dielectric, Conduction & EMP”, Padua, Italy, June 20-22, 2007.
• Vestøl, S. and Melaaen, M.C. (2007), Velocity profile measurements on stratified two-phase gas/liquid flow in horizontal and downwardly inclined pipes using PIV, "5th international conference on heat transfer, fluid mechanics and thermodynamics, HEFAT 2007", Sun City, South Africa, 1-4 July, 2007.
• John, A., Mathisen, A., Datta, B.K. and Melaaen, M.C. (2007), CFD Simulation and Experimental Validation of Mass Flow Rate of Air-Particle Flow in a Dilute Flow Vertical Lifter, “International Conference on Modeling and Simulation”, Coimbatore, India, August 27-29, 2007.
• Mathisen, A., Halvorsen, B. and Melaaen, M.C. (2008), Experimental study of dilute vertical pneumatic transport using PIV, RELPOWFLO IV, "4th International Symposium Reliable Flow of Particulate Solids", Tromsø, Norway, June 10-12, 2008.
• Kumara, W.A.S., Elseth, G., Halvorsen, B.M. and Melaaen, M.C. (2008), Computational study of stratified two phase oil/water flow in horizontal pipes, "6th international conference on heat transfer, fluid mechanics and thermodynamics, HEFAT 2008", Pretoria, South Africa, 30 June-2 July.
• Kumara, W.A.S., Halvorsen, B.M. and Melaaen, M.C. (2008), Computational study of stratified gas-liquid flow in horizontal and inclined pipes, "6th international conference on CFD in oil&gas, metallurgical and process industries", SINTEF/NTNU, Trondheim, 10-12 June.
• Kumara, W.A.S., Halvorsen, B.M. and Melaaen, M.C. (2008), An experimental investigation of oil-water flow in horizontal pipe using PIV and gamma measurements, "11th international conference on multiphase flow in industrial plants", Palermo, Italy, 7-10 September, ISBN 88-88198-13-X).
• Mathisen, A., Halvorsen, B. and Melaaen, M.C. (2008), Experimental studies of dilute vertical pneumatic transport. “Particulate Science and Technology”, vol. 26, pp. 235-246, 2008, Taylor & Francis Group (ISSN 0272-6351).
• Ratnayake, C., Datta, B.K., Saasen, A., Bastesen, Y. and Melaaen, M.C. (2008), Prediction of Pressure Drop at the Entry Section from Top Discharge Blow Tank in a Pneumatic Conveying System, “Particulate Science and Technology”, vol. 26, pp. 451-459, 2008, Taylor & Francis Inc.
• Kumara, W. A. S., Halvorsen, B.M. and Melaaen, M.C. (2009), Pressure drop, flow pattern and local water volume fraction measurements of oil-water flow in pipes. Presented on "The 6th Int. Symp. On Measurement Techniques for Multiphase Flows (ISMTMF 2008)”, Okinawa, Japan, December 15-18, and revised paper published in “Measurement Science and Technology”, vol. 20, no. 11, pp. 1-18, article nr. 114004, Nov. 2009. ISSN 0957-0233.
• Svendsen, K., Hagen, T.H., Melaaen, M.C. and Markegaard L. (2009), Thermal Measurements for Service Life Estimations of High Power Induction Hardening Coils. Presented on “IEEE-ICIT 2009, Int. Conf. on Industrial Technology, Churchill, Victoria, Australia, pp.754-759, 10-13 Feb., 2009. Proceedings of the 2009 IEEE International Conference on Industrial Technology. , s. 1-6. IEEE Computer Society, 2009. ISBN 9781424435067.
• Kumara, W.A.S., Halvorsen, B.M. and Melaaen, M.C. (2009), Particle image velocimetry, gamma densitometry and pressure measurements of oil-water flow. “Multiphase Science and Technology”, vol. 21, no. 1-2, pp. 51-64, 2009, ISSN 0276-1459.
• Amundsen, L., Schulkes, R. and Melaaen, M.C. (2009), Oil-water flow: experiments and model development. Presented on “14th International Conference on Multiphase Production Technology”, Cannes, France, 17th-19th June, 2009.
• Greer, T., Jayarathna, S., Alic, M., Melaaen, M.C. and Lie, B. (2009), Dynamic model for removal of carbon dioxide from a post combustion process with monoethanolamine. Presented on “MATHMOD 2009 - 14th International Conference on Mathematical Modelling”, Vienna, Austria, February 11-13, 2009.
• Kumara, W.A.S, Halvorsen, B.M. and Melaaen, M.C. (2009) Velocity and turbulence measurements of oil-water flow in horizontal and slightly inclined pipes using PIV, Fifth International Conference on Computational and Experimental Methods in Multiphase and Complex Flow, 15 - 17 June 2009, New Forest, UK, and presented in the book “Computational Methods in Multiphase Flow V”. WIT Transactions on Engineering Series. pp. 277-293. WIT Press, 2009. ISSN 1743-3533 / ISSN 1746-4471. ISBN 9781845641887.
• Jayarathna, S.A., Lie, B. and Melaaen, M.C. (2009), Comparison of computational methods for reaction equilibrium. Presented on "SIMS 50 Modeling and Simulation of Energy Technology", 7-8 October, Fredericia, Denmark.
• Kumara, W.A.S, Elseth, G., Halvorsen, B.M. and Melaaen, M.C. (2010) Comparison of Particle Image Velocimetry and Laser Doppler Anemometry measurement methods applied to the oil-water flow in horizontal pipe, Flow measurement and Instrumentation, doi:10.1016/j.flowmeasinst.2010.01.005.
• Kumara, W.A.S, Halvorsen, B.M. and Melaaen, M.C. (2010) Single-beam gamma densitometry measurements of oil-water flow in horizontal and slightly inclined pipes, Accepted for the International Journal of Multiphase Flow.
• Kumara, W.A.S, Halvorsen, B.M. and Melaaen, M.C. (2010) Particle Image Velocimetry for characterizing the flow structure of oil-water flow in horizontal and slightly inclined pipes, Accepted for the Chemical Engineering Science.
• Yusuf, R., Halvorsen, B.M. and Melaaen, M.C. (2010), An experimental and computational study of wall to bed heat transfer in a bubbling gas-solid fluidized bed. Submitted to the Int. J. of Multiphase Flow.
• Yusuf, R., Halvorsen, B.M. and Melaaen, M.C. (2010), Eulerian-Eulerian simulation of heat transfer between gas-solid fluidized bed and an immersed tube-bank with horizontal tubes. Submitted to Chemical Engineering Science.
• Yusuf, R., Halvorsen, B.M. and Melaaen, M.C. (2010), Computational fluid dynamic simulation of ethylene hydrogenation in a fluidized bed of porous catalyst particles. Submitted to the Canadian J. of Chemical Engineering.
• Chladek, J., Enstad, G.G. and Melaaen, M.C. (2010), Effect of operating conditions and particle properties on solids mass flow rate and pressure drop in vertical pneumatic conveying. Submitted to the Powder Technology.
• Rautenbach, C., Melaaen, M.C. and Halvorsen, B.M. (2010), Investigation of the shifting-parameter as a function of particle size distribution in a fluidized bed traversing from one regime to another. Presented on the conference “Fluidization XIII: New Paradigm in Fluidization Engineering”, Gyeong-Ju, Korea, 16-20 May.