Best Practice for Modeling

Bubble Column Reactors

with FLUENT
Andrey Troshko
July 2006

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Outline

Objective/Problem Description
Typical Modeling Assumptions
Mesh Recommendations
Selection of Physical Models
Boundary Conditions
Other Problem Inputs
Solver Settings and Solution Strategy
Postprocessing
Troubleshooting/FAQs

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Objective/Problem Description
Bubble column
Gas sparged at the bottom of vessel
containing liquid
Bubbles are formed at sparger and
continuously rise towards top of
liquid column
Drag of bubbles raises liquid level
from H0 to new height H
Gas holdup is calculated as 1-H0/H Bubbles
Examples
Fischer-Tropsch synthesis
Gas
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H
H0

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Typical Modeling Assumptions

Turbulent flow
Single size bubble
For low gas inlet velocity (1-5 cm/s), this is true
For higher gas inlet velocity, a bubble size spectrum appears
in the typical range 1-30 mm. Representative size (Sauter
diameter) has to be chosen
Rigorous modeling of bubble size distribution is available via
Population Balance model (not discussed here)
Bubble size can be affected by small catalyst particles or
active surfactants (not discussed here)
2D vs 3D
For low gas inlet velocity (1-5 cm/s), bubble column can be
run as 2D, unsteady. Standard k- model should be used
For higher gas inlet velocity, bubble column must be run as
3D, unsteady. RNG k- model should be used. Time
averaging must be used

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Typical Modeling Assumptions

Extensions to the model (contact your support
specialist):
Rigorous modeling of bubble size
distribution with Population Bubble model
Universal drag law applicable to wide
range of bubble sizes
Influence of catalyst concentration on
bubble size distribution
Associated homogeneous and
heterogeneous reactions

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Selection of Physical Models

Euler multiphase model

Two phases
Primary phase is liquid
Secondary phase is bubble with chosen
bubble diameter
Drag law between bubbles and primary
phase is Schiller-Naumann (default)
Not valid if bubble shape deviates from
spherical (true if typical bubble diameter is
larger than ~1 cm)

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Mesh Recommendations
Shape of bubble column is typically simple so hex
mesh is mainly used
Use hex mesh where possible or good quality tet
mesh
General recommendation: skewness below
0.8/0.85 for hex and below 0.9 for tetrahedral
meshes
Smooth change in the mesh size (avoid large
jump in the mesh size)
Often there is no need of boundary layer or advanced
wall treatment

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Boundary Conditions
Pressure
outlet

Velocity boundary conditions at

the bottom
Superficial gas velocity (known)
gin = 0.5

gback = 1

Ugin = J gin / gin

Physical gas velocity

Pressure outlet at the top

Backflow BC

Hd

gback = 1

Remark: domain height Hd must

be larger than final liquid height H.
Safe practice: Hd=2H0

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Velocity
inlet

gin , U gin
lin = 0, U lin = 0

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Boundary Conditions
Bottom sparger design
All bottom designs
have geometrical
features much
smaller than bubble
diameter
Example sparger in
shape of small holes
arranged in circular
pattern can be
replaced by circular
mesh layer with
appropriately scaled
gas flow rate

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Mesh approximationcircular mesh layers

Real inlets

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Model Setup
Please make sure that the grid has been properly
scaled
Perform a grid check to find any problems before
iterating the solution
Grid-Reorder-domain
First enable turbulence
Define materials for both phases
Define phases and their interaction (drag)
In OPERATING CONDITIONS panel, set gravity
vector and specify operating pressure to 0 Pa

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Solution Strategies in 3D (high gas

velocity)
If running simulation with high gas inlet velocity in 3D,
activate unsteady solver
Use node-based gradient calculation
Typical URFs:
Momentum 0.5
Pressure 0.5
VOF 0.5
Turbulence (RNG model) 0.7
All other variables default
Discretization QUICK for momentum and VOF,
default for other variables

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Solution Strategies in 3D (high gas

velocity) - continued
Initialization is very important
Initialize all variables to zero and VOF of gas to 1
in whole domain
Mark cells using ADAPT-REGION where initial
g =1
liquid height will be
Type command in Fluent TUI: (rpsetvar
patch/vof? #t))
Patch very small VOF of gas (1e-4) in this liquid
region
10 4 < g < 1
Change initial liquid height a bit to create a
transition of initial VOF at initial liquid-interface gas
This method will ensure smooth convergence from
the beginning of transient

g = 10 4
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Solution Strategies in 3D (high gas

velocity) - continued
Time step is determined by Courant number,
so it can be estimated as a ratio of cell size
and gas inlet velocity
Run the problem until gas reaches top of
liquid column, than start time-averaging
Compare time-averaged results with other
calculations or experiments

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Solution Strategies in 2D (low gas

velocity)
The same as for 3D case except
Standard k-e model must be used
Final result MUST be steady state solution.
The best way to monitor steady state is to
write data files every, say, 100 time steps
and compare liquid height for several time
points. If liquid height does not change in
time, then steady state has been achieved.

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Solution Strategies - Monitors

Mass of the liquid must be conserved inside
the domain monitor volume-averaged liquid
VOF to ensure liquid mass conservation
For 2D steady state, the gas mass flow in and
out must be equal
For 3D, time-averaged gas mass fluxes must
match use mass flow rate monitors in
REPORT-SURFACE INTEGRALS

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Postprocessing
To calculate a holdup, pressure XY plots can
be used. Plot static pressure in direction of
gravity vector
For 2D along the axis
For 3D on middle cut surface parallel to
gravity vector
Static
pressure

Initial pressure profile

Final pressure profile
H0
H

Holdup=1-H0/H

Direction along gravity

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Troubleshooting
If solution diverges at start up, please make sure:
Gravity points to the bottom of column and liquid
height is properly initialized
Backflow VOF of gas is 0 at top boundary
(pressure outlet)
Inlet and outlet turbulence values are proper
Bubble diameter and drag law are correct
Initialization is important see slide 12 on how to
initialize

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Troubleshooting
If after checkup list, you still have divergence
try lowering time step size by a factor of 10
If still diverging in 2D, try to running model in
3D
If still diverging, please contact technical
support

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Convergence
Use standard convergence criteria for all
variables
Use 10-15 maximum iterations per time step
If using larger time step increase max
iteration number to 25
It is OK to not fully converge at every time
step as long as total liquid mass is conserved

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