scholarly journals A population balance model for large eddy simulation of polydisperse droplet evolution

2019 ◽  
Vol 878 ◽  
pp. 700-739 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. K. Aiyer ◽  
D. Yang ◽  
M. Chamecki ◽  
C. Meneveau

In the context of many applications of turbulent multi-phase flows, knowledge of the dispersed phase size distribution and its evolution is critical to predicting important macroscopic features. We develop a large eddy simulation (LES) model that can predict the turbulent transport and evolution of size distributions, for a specific subset of applications in which the dispersed phase can be assumed to consist of spherical droplets, and occurring at low volume fraction. We use a population dynamics model for polydisperse droplet distributions specifically adapted to a LES framework including a model for droplet breakup due to turbulence, neglecting coalescence consistent with the assumed small dispersed phase volume fractions. We model the number density fields using an Eulerian approach for each bin of the discretized droplet size distribution. Following earlier methods used in the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes framework, the droplet breakup due to turbulent fluctuations is modelled by treating droplet–eddy collisions as in kinetic theory of gases. Existing models assume the scale of droplet–eddy collision to be in the inertial range of turbulence. In order to also model smaller droplets comparable to or smaller than the Kolmogorov scale we extend the breakup kernels using a structure function model that smoothly transitions from the inertial to the viscous range. The model includes a dimensionless coefficient that is fitted by comparing predictions in a one-dimensional version of the model with a laboratory experiment of oil droplet breakup below breaking waves. After initial comparisons of the one-dimensional model to measurements of oil droplets in an axisymmetric jet, it is then applied in a three-dimensional LES of a jet in cross-flow with large oil droplets of a single size being released at the source of the jet. We model the concentration fields using $N_{d}=15$ bins of discrete droplet sizes and solve scalar transport equations for each bin. The resulting droplet size distributions are compared with published experimental data, and good agreement for the relative size distribution is obtained. The LES results also enable us to quantify size distribution variability. We find that the probability distribution functions of key quantities such as the total surface area and the Sauter mean diameter of oil droplets are highly variable, some displaying strong non-Gaussian intermittent behaviour.

Author(s):  
S. Gallot-Lavallée ◽  
W. P. Jones ◽  
A. J. Marquis

AbstractA computational investigation of three configurations of the Delft Spray in Hot-diluted Co-flow (DSHC) is presented. The selected burner comprises a hollow cone pressure swirl atomiser, injecting an ethanol spray, located in the centre of a hot co-flow generator, with the conditions studied corresponding to Moderate or Intense Low-oxygen Dilution (MILD) combustion. The simulations are performed in the context of Large Eddy Simulation (LES) in combination with a transport equation for the joint probability density function (pdf) of the scalars, solved using the Eulerian stochastic field method. The liquid phase is simulated by the use of a Lagrangian point particle approach, where the sub-grid-scale interactions are modelled with a stochastic approach. Droplet breakup is represented by a simple primary breakup model in combination with a stochastic secondary breakup formulation. The approach requires only a minimal knowledge of the fuel injector and avoids the need to specify droplet size and velocity distributions at the injection point. The method produces satisfactory agreement with the experimental data and the velocity fields of the gas and liquid phase both averaged and ‘size-class by size-class’ are well depicted. Two widely accepted evaporation models, utilising a phase equilibrium assumption, are used to investigate the influence of evaporation on the evolution of the liquid phase and the effects on the flame. An analysis on the dynamics of stabilisation sheds light on the importance of droplet size in the three spray flames; different size droplets play different roles in the stabilisation of the flames.


Author(s):  
Léo Cunha Caldeira Mesquita ◽  
Aymeric Vié ◽  
Sébastien Ducruix

A two-staged swirling burner is numerically simulated using Large Eddy Simulation (LES). This combustor uses two types of injection: a multipoint system that consists in 10 holes in a crossflow configuration, and a pilot system that uses a pressure-swirl atomizer. The relation between the rate of fuel injected from each injection system was found to be related with flame shape transition and hysteresis phenomena[4]. Also, the pilot spray was found to have a major role on these transitons, so it is of paramount importance to correctly reproduce its behavior on the numerical modeling, if one is interested in simulating these flame bifurcations. To describe the spray, a point-droplet approximation is used in a Lagrangian framework with the FIM-UR model [1], that has already proven its accuracy for several configurations. However, in this application it fails to reproduce the droplet size distribution, especially in the Central Recirculation Zone (CRZ), as it uses an arbitrary expression to impose the spray opening limits (which are not input parameters). In the present work, the input parameters of the FIM-UR model are modified to enable the recovery of the right droplet size distribution and improve the description of the liquid velocity field, resulting in a better numerical representation of the experimental results, essential for further studies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 932 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cosan Daskiran ◽  
Fangda Cui ◽  
Michel C. Boufadel ◽  
Ruixue Liu ◽  
Lin Zhao ◽  
...  

Understanding the size of oil droplets released from a jet in crossflow is crucial for estimating the trajectory of hydrocarbons and the rates of oil biodegradation/dissolution in the water column. We present experimental results of an oil jet with a jet-to-crossflow velocity ratio of 9.3. The oil was released from a vertical pipe 25 mm in diameter with a Reynolds number of 25 000. We measured the size of oil droplets near the top and bottom boundaries of the plume using shadowgraph cameras and we also filmed the whole plume. In parallel, we developed a multifluid large eddy simulation model to simulate the plume and coupled it with our VDROP population balance model to compute the local droplet size. We accounted for the slip velocity of oil droplets in the momentum equation and in the volume fraction equation of oil through the local, mass-weighted average droplet rise velocity. The top and bottom boundaries of the plume were captured well in the simulation. Larger droplets shaped the upper boundary of the plume, and the mean droplet size increased with elevation across the plume, most likely due to the individual rise velocity of droplets. At the same elevation across the plume, the droplet size was smaller at the centre axis as compared with the side boundaries of the plume due to the formation of the counter-rotating vortex pair, which induced upward velocity at the centre axis and downward velocity near the sides of the plume.


Author(s):  
Enrica Masi ◽  
Benoiˆt Be´dat ◽  
Mathieu Moreau ◽  
Olivier Simonin

This paper presents an Euler-Euler Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) approach for the numerical modeling of non isothermal dispersed turbulent two-phase flows. The proposed approach is presented and validated by a priori tests from an Euler-Lagrange database, provided using discrete particle simulation (DPS) of the particle phase coupled with direct numerical simulation (DNS) of the turbulent carrier flow, in a non isothermal particle-laden temporal jet configuration. A statistical approach, the Mesoscopic Eulerian Formalism (MEF) [Fe´vrier et al., J. Fluid Mech., 2005, vol. 533, pp. 1–46], is used to write local and instantaneous Eulerian equations for the dispersed phase and then, by spatial averaging, to derive the LES equations governing the filtered variables. In this work, the MEF approach is extended to scalar variables transported by the particles in order to develop LES for reactive turbulent dispersed two-phase flows with mass and heat turbulent transport. This approach leads to separate the instantaneous particle temperature distribution in a Mesoscopic Eulerian field, shared by all the particles, and a Random Uncorrelated distribution which may be characterized in terms of Eulerian fields of particle moments such as the uncorrelated temperature variance. In this paper, the DPS-DNS numerical database is presented, LES Eulerian equations for the dispersed phase are derived in the frame of the Mesoscopic approach and models for the unresolved subgrid and random uncorrelated terms are proposed and a priori tested using the DPS-DNS database.


Author(s):  
Sourabh V. Apte ◽  
Mikhael Gorokhovski ◽  
Parviz Moin

Large-eddy simulation (LES) of reacting multi-phase flows in practical combustor geometries is essential to accurately predict complex physical phenomena of turbulent mixing and combustion dynamics. This necessitates use of Lagrangian particle-tracking methodology for liquid phase in order to correctly capture the droplet evaporation rates in the sparse-liquid regime away from the fuel injector. Our goal in the present work is to develop a spray-atomization methodology which can be used in conjuction with the standard particle-tracking schemes and predict the droplet-size distribution accurately. The intricate process of primary atomization and lack of detailed experimental observations close to the injector requires us to model its global effects and focus on secondary breakup to capture the evolution of droplet sizes. Accordingly, a stochastic model for LES of atomizing spray is developed. Following Kolmogorov’s idea of viewing solid particle-breakup as a discrete random process, atomization of liquid blobs at high relative liquid-to-gas velocity is considered in the framework of uncorrelated breakup events, independent of the initial droplet size. Kolmogorov’s discrete model of breakup is represented by Fokker-Planck equation for the temporal and spatial evolution of droplet radius distribution. The parameters of the model are obtained dynamically by relating them to the local Weber number. A novel hybrid-approach involving tracking of individual droplets and a group of like-droplets known as parcels is developed to reduce the computational cost and maintain the essential features and dynamics of spray evolution. The present approach is shown to capture the complex fragmentary process of liquid atomization in idealized and realistic Diesel and gas-turbine combustors.


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