Proceedings of the 25th UKACM Conference on Computational Mechanics

12 13 April 2017, University of Birmingham

Birmingham, United Kingdom

NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF TWO-PHASE FLOW WITH

EULERIAN MODEL IN A CHANNEL
*Beatriz Ramos Barboza1 and Chenfeng Li1
1
Zienkiewicz Centre for Computational Engineering, College of Engineering, Swansea University, SA2 8PP

*805379@swansea.ac.uk

ABSTRACT

Two-phase flows may be found in many industrial applications, from oil refining processes to sediment
transport, so it is relevant to understand how to represent the physics of those problems. In this work, a
computational model is being implemented in MATLAB using Euler-Euler method in order to represent the
dynamic of a two-phase flow inside a channel. The code is based on the finite volume method and is able to deal
with 2D mesh. In addition, an iterative procedure based on SIMPLE algorithm is used to solve the Navier-
Stokes equations that characterize the fluid behaviour. To validate the solver, widely studied multiphase flow
problems is being simulated and the results compared with ANSYS FLUENT and classical papers.

Keywords: Finite Volume Method, Navier-Stokes, Two-phase fluid flow.

1. Introduction
Multiphase flow systems had been a great interesting in the research community and are encountered
in diverse industries. These systems are a key knowledge behind simulations on areas such petroleum
engineering, aerospace, chemical engineering, hydraulics and so forth.
A phase can be characterized as distinguishable class of material that has a specific inertial response
to and interaction with the flow and the potential field in which it is immersed. Hence, particles of the
same material with different sizes can be treated as distinctive phases due to the dynamical response
to the flow field [1]. Two-phase systems can be divided into four sets related to the type of the phases:
liquid-liquid, gas-liquid, solid-liquid and solid-gas. Those schemes are the most common in
multiphase field, however, there are researches dealing with three-phases and four-phases models as
in [2].
In this work, a 2D computational model using MATLAB is being developed in the interest of
simulates the physical behaviour of a two-phase system flowing inside a channel. Thus, classical
Navier-Stokes equations are solved and compared with benchmarks. At this stage, the code is being
applied for fluid-fluid systems, though the final aim is apply it on solid-fluid configurations.

2. Governing Equations
The dynamics of many two-phase flows encountered in engineering applications are adequately
modelled by the Navier-Stokes equations [7]. Thus, the momentum equation in a conservative form
and the continuity equation for incompressible flow are given by Eqs. ((1)) and (2)
! !! !
( k k uk ) + ( k k uk uk ) = k P + ( k k ) + k k g + M k (1)
t
!
( k k ) + ( k k uk ) = 0 (2)
t

where the right-hand side (RHS) of Eq. (1) are the pressure gradient, viscous and turbulent stress
forces, body force, and interfacial momentum transfer, respectively, and RHS of Eq. (2) is zero due to
the incompressibility. The phase volume fraction is k .
In this code, an Euler-Euler approach used for the numerical representation of two-phase flow,
consequentially the different phases are treated as interpenetrating continuum. Thus, the conservation
equations are derived for each phase, e.g. a set of momentum and continuity equations is solved for
each phase. The pressure and interfacial momentum transfer are responsible for the coupling in this
case. More details about the Eulerian model can be find on [5].

3. FVM Code
The discretization method behind the Finite Volume Method involves the integration of the partial
differential equations over an element, which changes the surfaces and volumes integrals into discrete
algebraic relations over elements [4]. This gives flexibility as a discretization method. Hence, there
are powerful commercial CFD packages that use FVM as discretization procedure, e.g. Fluent
ANSYS.
After discretize momentum and continuity equations, the SIMPLE [6] (Semi-Implicit Method for
Pressure Linked Equations) algorithm is applied to solve the equation system. In this algorithm the
solution is found iteratively by generating pressure and velocity fields that satisfy both the momentum
and continuity equations.

4. Results
The Lid-Driven Cavity Flow is a benchmark in Computation Fluid Dynamics simulation and was
used to validate the code for single-phase flow. The Figure 1 illustrates the geometry and boundary
conditions for the case.

Figure 1: Lid-Diver Cavity configuration.

The case was reproduced with the same conditions on both Fluent ANSYS and the FVM code from
this work. In the Figure 2: Comparison between experimental data from Ghia et al.,
Fluent ANSYS and the FVM code..
 Figure 2: Comparison between experimental data from Ghia et al., Fluent ANSYS and the FVM code.

Results from two-phase flow simulations will be presented orally during the conference.

Acknowledgements
The author gratefully acknowledges CNPQ/Brazil and Science Without Borders Program for the
financial support.

References
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