Tomographic Measurements of Granular Flows in Gases and in Liquids

Abstract

Two distinct non-intrusive radiation methods known as scanning gamma ray tomography and single profile photon absorptiometry are presented in this paper as tools for the investigation of interstitial voidage distributions of granular flows in both gases and liquids. Single profile absorptiometry coupled with the consecutive radial transformation of the linear data obtained within seconds of flow time is used as a tomographic tool for dynamic voidage characterization in different flow regimes of air and liquid-based systems, as well as a complete tomographic projection procedure, which requires scan times of the order of minutes to achieve high spatial resolutions over a large cross-sectional area of the vessels, A novel tomographic technique currently under development known as dual photon tomography is proposed to facilitate simultaneous voidage mapping and particle tracking in 3-D granular flows.