Characterization of patterns in rimming flow

Patterns were generated inside a horizontal cylinder rotating at low speeds. The cylinder was filled with a very low volume liquid fraction of 1.8% of Newtonian fluid and the rotation speed ranged between 0.08 and 5.2 s-1. A novel laser-plane technique was utilized to obtain time series from each pattern. This enabled the characterization of fluid patterns using Fourier spectral (FS) and dynamical-systems (chaotic) techniques such as the recurrence map, correlation dimension (D2) and Hurst exponent (H). Four patterns were found (fingers, furrows, waterfall and smooth tooth) before annular flow was reached. The results indicate that the FS technique not is suitable for flow pattern characterization; and H only has the ability to indicate a possible pattern change. The best tool for indicating the pattern transitions and the inner coat liquid evolution was found to be recurrence maps and D2