I NlNG HSING CHEN

Solid Rocket Plant, Aerojet-General Corp., Sacramento, Calif.

Equations for Flooding Rate in Packed Towers

A SUCCESSFUL CORRELATION of flooding

data in gas-liquid packed towers has been
the original curve \vas
shown in the illustration:
modified a

given ( 7 ) as a curve by plotting on log-

log coordinate paper,

Equation l agrees u i t h the values ob- \vas plotted against

served in the original curve ( 7 ) for the
log L Pb

However, computers are now used widely range of

L
t.1 pLfrom 0.02 to 3.00.
G 1' PI'

for solving engineering problems, and
they can solve a correlation equation
much more easily than a correlation
curve. For such computer solution. the
correlation curve is transformed by the
method of least squares to
For 20 selected points, the mean devia- Similarly, the curve can be represented
tion is -1.37Yc and the standard de- by the method of least squares as
viation is z t 4 2870. Because both co-
ordinates have G terms. solution of this
requires a trial and error method. To
eliminate this tedious manipulation,

Equation 2 is valid for the ranqe of

G l j p/pc
L r . from 0.02 to 5.00. For 22
selected points, the mean deviation is
+0.05670 and the standard deviation is
2~3.4470. The comparison is shown in
the illustration.

/
Nomenclature
.1, specific surface area of dr) packing
=
sq. ft. cu. ft. packed kolume
g, = Yewton's law conversion factor,
4.17 (108) lb. mass. (ft.) (Ib.
force), (hr.) (hr.)
G = superficial mass velocit) of gas
flowing through packing, lb. 1
(hr.) (sq ft.)
L = superficial liquid rate. lb. (hr.)
isq.rt.)
E = fraction of free void space within
the packing. cu. ft. cu. ft
po = density of gas, lb. cu. f t .
p~ = density of liquid, lb. cu. ft.
pL = viscosity of liquid. cp.

Literature Cited
io: I I I
poi oi - I ic (1) Lobo, W. E., Friend, L., Hashmall,
i F., Zenz. F., T r a n s . -4m. Inst. Chem.
GIP,
Engrs. 41, 693 (1945).
To eliminate tedious trial and error method, the previous experimental curve for RECEIVED for review August 9, 1960
correlating flooding data in gas-liquid packed towers was modified A C C E P T E D September 22, 1960

6 INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERINGCHEMISTRY