Study of the thermohydraulics of CO2 discharge from a high pressure reservoir

An experimental test set up has been constructed to carry out controlled CO2 release experiments from a high pressure vessel. The test set up is made up of a 5001 stainless steel vessel where CO2 can be introduced up to high pressures and where controlled releases can be conducted. The work objective is to get experimental data that help to understand the thermo-hydraulic behavior of CO2 when discharged from a pressurized vessel and to further improve and validate existing and newly developed release and dispersion models. The aim is to get better insight into the fluid behavior in the vessel as well as in the discharged jet, and to understand the relation between the thermodynamic regime inside the high pressure medium and the mass release rate and jet zone characteristics during the release process. In this experimental work, the impact of varying the release orifice diameter and the initial vessel pressure on the CO2 discharge will be examined and analyzed, and the different thermodynamic regimes inside and outside the high pressure medium will be described and interpreted. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.