Multiphase Flow Modelling

Dr. Gavin Tabor

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Combustion p.1
 What is multiphase flow

Multiphase flow is the flow of 2 (or more) immiscible

fluids, or a fluid and a solid component. Examples
include :
Solid particles in air
particulate polutants
coal dust combustion
particle separation
fluidized beds
Liquid droplets in water/air
emulsions, food (eg. mayonaise)
....
diesel combustion

Combustion p.2
 Gas bubbles in liquid
bioreactors
food (eg. ice cream)

Solid particles in water

slurry flow, hydrotransport, sedimentation

Free surface flow

marine applications (ship design)
sloshing (tanks)
free surface channel flow
....

Combustion p.3
 Physics questions

Two phase flow consists of a dispersed phase

(droplets/particles/bubbles) intermingled in a
continuous phase (gas/liquid).
dispersed
phase
Co
nt
in
uo
us
Ph
as
e

.... . . . or a macroscopic interface

Combustion p.4
 Physics questions

Several questions arise :

How big are the dispersed phase particles?
(Also shape, variations in size etc)

How dense are they? (express as a phase fraction

ratio of volumes occupied to total volume of cell)

How do they interact with each other?

How do they interact with the continuous phase?

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Combustion p.5
 Modelling techniques

We will look at 3 different approaches suitable for

different flow regimes
1. Lagrangian particle tracking follow individual
particles (or groups)
2. Eulerian 2 phase flow
treat both phases as fluids.
3. Free surface modelling VOF

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Combustion p.6
 Particle tracking

Applicable for low phase fractions usually solid

particles in air (eg. coal particle combustion) or fluid
droplets in air (eg. diesel spray combustion).
We know how to solve the NSE to find the motion of
the continuous phase. Calculate the hydrodynamic
force on that particle, and apply NII to find its
tragectory.
dvi
= f (f , p , d, f , g, ui , ui , vi )
dt

....

Combustion p.7
 Equation of Motion

the Basset-Boussinesq-Oseen (BBO) model. We

can integrate this numerically to provide the
trajectory for each particle.
Note :
Only valid for d  local turbulence length scale
Can be extended to include lift forces
In some regimes (eg. f /p 103 ) several terms
can be neglected

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Combustion p.8
 Stokes number

Important scaling parameter in fluid/particle flows :

ratio of particle response time R to characteristic
fluid motion time F :
R
St =
F

For Stokes drag this can be evaluated :

p d2 U
St =
18L

.... for characteristic fluid length/velocity scales L, U .

Combustion p.9
 Fluid/particle coupling

St  1 particles follow flow exactly

St  1 particles unaffected by
continuous phase flow

If F is a turbulent scale, then St  1 implies the

particles will move with the turbulent motion.

However the turbulence will often be modelled

(k  model). Need to introduce (often stochastic)
model to account for effect of turbulence on
particles.
....

Combustion p.10
 Particle/fluid coupling

Particles will also affect the turbulence

either enhance it or dampen it.

Distinguish between 1-way and 2-way coupling.

1-way : fluid affects particles
2-way : particles also affect fluid

As phase fraction increases, particles can also affect

the large-scale mean motion Einstein correction to
visocsity.
....

Combustion p.11
 Higher phase fractions

Individual particle tracking becomes impossible for

high phase fractions of small particles too many
particles to track.

Track groups of particles statistical approach.

Alternative : Eulerian two-phase flow modelling. A

fluid is composed of particles (molecules) but we can
treat it as a continuum. Why not model the dispersed
phase as a second fluid?

Apply this to : liquid/liquid, gas/liquid and solid/liquid

....
flows.
Combustion p.12
 Conditional averaging

Start by defining an indicator function , which takes

the values
(x) = 1 if x is in phase a, and
0 if not

We include this in our standard averaging operation.

For a quantity :
Z
1
a = dt
t
....

Combustion p.13
 Averaged NS Equations

Apply this averaging to the NSE, eg. momentum

equation :
ua
+ .ua ua + .u0a u0 a
t
1
= pa + 2 ua + interface terms
a

We also find
a + 6a = 1
a set of equations for the continuous phase,
.... and for the dispersed phase.

Combustion p.14
 Eulerian 2-phase modelling

We can solve the continuous phase equations,

plus the equation
a + 6a = 1
plus some model for the dispersed phase.

Dispersed phase model can be algebraic, or

solve the NSE for this phase.

Cond. averaging generates interface terms

represent effect of one phase on the other!

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Combustion p.15
 Points

Modelling more complex, but provides

mathematical framework to fit into. Eg. need
near-wall model
Turbulence modelling required.
Continous phase create phase-weighted
k  model
Dispersed phase turbulence is some
fraction Ct of cont. phase
. . . but what is dispersed phase turbulence?

....

Combustion p.16
 Numerical problems, particularly with
a + 6a = 1

Much wider range of applicability

can account for :
high phase fraction,
phase inversion,
droplet breakup/coalescence

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Combustion p.17
 Free surface flow

Free surface flow 2 immiscible fluids separated by

an interface. Of importance in :
Investigating bubble/droplet behaviour
Slug flow (very large bubbles)
Large-scale interfaces ship wakes, ink jets,
channel flows etc.

4 basic methods used. We will look at one Volume

Of Fluid (VOF).
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Combustion p.18
 Modelling overview

If the density ratio is large (air/water) :

1. Particle-based methods (SPH, cellular automata,
lattice boltzmann)
All other methods solve NSE in both phases, and
explicitly follow the position of the interface :
3. Explicit parameterization of the surface
4. Create an indicator function VOF methods
5. Create a general function G for which G = 0
represents the interface level set methods
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Combustion p.19
 VOF Method

In the VOF method the indicator function takes

value 1 in one phase and 0 in the other. We have
a continuity equation :

+ .u = S
t
and of course
a + 6a = 1

The velocity u comes from solving the NSE for the

.... mixture (not individual components).

Combustion p.20
 Indicator function

The indicator function represents the position of the

interface and is advected by the flow.
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0.1 0.4 0.6 0.8

0 0 0.1 0.5 0.85 1 1 1

0 0.2 0.7 1 1 1 1 1

0.2 0.9 1 1 1 1 1 1

0.7 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Computationally the interface smeared over 3-4 cells

....

Combustion p.21
 Reconstruction

Reconstructing the interface not trivial :

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0.1 0.4 0.6 0.8

0 0 0.1 0.5 0.85 1 1 1

0 0.2 0.7 1 1 1 1 1

0.2 0.9 1 1 1 1 1 1

0.7 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

4 schemes in Fluent geometric, donor/acceptor,

Euler explicit and implicit.
....

Combustion p.22
 Mixture

Given the phase fraction , construct mixture

properties as
m = a + (1 )b

Solve NSE for velocity, pressure

u 1
+ .uu = p + t 2 u
t

and allocate this u to each component in each cell

....

Combustion p.23
 Additional problems

Note that if there are large differences between

properties of the two phases, accuracy may
be limited.

May need to include surface tension. Important

groups
U
Capillary number Ca = for Re  1

LU 2
Weber number We = for Re  1

....

Combustion p.24