Numerical investigations of gas–liquid two-phase flows in microchannels

2017 ◽  
Vol 232 (3) ◽  
pp. 466-476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qin Lou ◽  
Mo Yang ◽  
Hongtao Xu
Keyword(s):  
Surface Tension ◽  
Steady State ◽  
Mass Exchange ◽  
Slug Flow ◽  
Inertial Force ◽  
Flow Regimes ◽  
Channel Width ◽  
Viscous Force ◽  
Two Phase Flows ◽  
Two Phase

Immiscible gas–liquid two-phase flows with an initial stochastically distribution, which are driven by a constant body force in a period microchannel of [Formula: see text] in width, are studied using the lattice Boltzmann method under various conditions. Continuous dynamic behaviors of bubbles and droplets including breaking up, coalescence, deformation, and mass exchange between them are observed. The flows reach to their steady state when the rate of breaking up and coalescence are in balance, and no mass exchange occurs. The simulation results show that the steady-state flow regimes depend strongly on the viscous force, surface tension, inertial force, channel width, and wettability of the solid surface. Specially, it is found that slug flow is more probable to occur for the small channel width at the same volume fraction. And the shape of bubble in the slug flow is determined by the wettability of the solid wall. Furthermore, the shape and number of bubbles at steady state are related to surface tension, viscous force, and inertial force. It is also found that the initial bubble distributions have slight effects on the flow regimes at steady state.

Surface Tension Effects on Liquid Flow in Small Plastic Tubes When Gas Bubbles are Present

2005 ◽  
Vol 219 (8) ◽  
pp. 853-857 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. R. Myers ◽  
H. M. Cave ◽  
S. P. Krumdieck
Keyword(s):  
Surface Tension ◽  
High Pressure ◽  
Pressure Drop ◽  
Liquid Flow ◽  
Slug Flow ◽  
Small Diameter ◽  
Gas Bubbles ◽  
Flow Regimes ◽  
Liquid Slug ◽  
Two Phase

Two-phase intermittent gas and liquid slug flow in small diameter glass and plastic tubes was studied. Two distinct flow regimes and the transition phenomena were identified. A modified Hagen-Poiseuille relation was derived to describe the extremely high pressure drop due to the surface tension effects of pinned slug flow.

Numerical Simulation of Cavitation Bubble Growth within a Droplet

2015 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Lü ◽  
Z. Ning ◽  
K. Yan ◽  
J. Fu ◽  
C.-H. Sun
Keyword(s):  
Surface Tension ◽  
Growth Rate ◽  
Bubble Growth ◽  
Cavitation Bubble ◽  
Control Mechanism ◽  
Inertial Force ◽  
Viscous Force ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Second Stage ◽  
Third Stage

ABSTRACTCavitation bubbles, which always exist in the diesel jet leaving the nozzle and in diesel droplets breaking up from the jet as a result of supercavitation of the diesel within the injection nozzle, increase the instability of jet and droplets in part due to the two-phase mixture, while the mechanism of this effect is still unclear. Cavitation bubble expansion within the diesel droplet has been simulated numerically based on the volume of fluid (VOF) method, and the control mechanism of bubble growth process is analyzed by Rayleigh-Plesset equation. The process of bubble growth is divided into three parts, including surface tension controlled domain, comprehensive competition controlled domain and inertial force controlled domain. During the first stage, cavitation bubble growth is controlled by the surface tension, and the decrease of the surface tension leads to the increase of the bubble growth rate. During the second stage, the bubble growth rate is controlled by the comprehensive competition of the surface tension, the inertial force and the viscous force. During the third stage, the process of bubble growth is majorly controlled by the inertial force.

Study on C–S and P–R EOS in pseudo-potential lattice Boltzmann model for two-phase flows

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (09) ◽  
pp. 1750120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong Peng ◽  
Yun Fei Mao ◽  
Bo Wang ◽  
Bo Xie
Keyword(s):  
Surface Tension ◽  
Lattice Boltzmann ◽  
Equations Of State ◽  
Density Ratio ◽  
Maximum Density ◽  
Lattice Boltzmann Model ◽  
Two Phase Flows ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Spurious Currents ◽  
Pseudo Potential

Equations of State (EOS) is crucial in simulating multiphase flows by the pseudo-potential lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). In the present study, the Peng and Robinson (P–R) and Carnahan and Starling (C–S) EOS in the pseudo-potential LBM with Exact Difference Method (EDM) scheme for two-phase flows have been compared. Both of P–R and C–S EOS have been used to study the two-phase separation, surface tension, the maximum two-phase density ratio and spurious currents. The study shows that both of P–R and C–S EOS agree with the analytical solutions although P–R EOS may perform better. The prediction of liquid phase by P–R EOS is more accurate than that of air phase and the contrary is true for C–S EOS. Predictions by both of EOS conform with the Laplace’s law. Besides, adjustment of surface tension is achieved by adjusting [Formula: see text]. The P–R EOS can achieve larger maximum density ratio than C–S EOS under the same [Formula: see text]. Besides, no matter the C–S EOS or the P–R EOS, if [Formula: see text] tends to 0.5, the computation is prone to numerical instability. The maximum spurious current for P–R is larger than that of C–S. The multiple-relaxation-time LBM still can improve obviously the numerical stability and can achieve larger maximum density ratio.

Large Eddy Simulation of Two-Phase Flow Pattern and Transformation Characteristics of Flow Mixing Nozzle

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 693-704
Author(s):  
Jin Zhao ◽  
Zhi Ning ◽  
Ming Lü
Keyword(s):  
Flow Pattern ◽  
Two Phase Flow ◽  
Velocity Ratio ◽  
Inertial Force ◽  
Surface Tension Force ◽  
Viscous Force ◽  
Phase Flow ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Jet Breakup ◽  
Flow Mixing

ABSTRACTThe two-phase flow pattern of a flow mixing nozzle plays an important role in jet breakup and atomization. However, the flow pattern of this nozzle and its transformation characteristics are still unclear. A diesel-air injection simulation model of a flow mixing nozzle is established. Then the two-phase flow pattern and transformation characteristics of the flow mixing nozzle is studied using a numerical simulation method. The effect of the air-diesel velocity ratio, ratio of the distance between the tube orifice and nozzle hole and the tube diameter (H/D), and the diesel inlet velocity was studied in terms of the jet breakup diameter (jet diameter at the breakup position) and jet breakup length (length of the diesel jet from the breakup position to the nozzle outlet). The results show that the jet breakup diameter decreases with the decrease in H/D or the increase in the air-diesel velocity ratio and diesel inlet velocity. The jet breakup length increases first and then decreases with the increase in H/D and air-diesel velocity ratio; the trend of the diesel inlet velocity is complicated. In addition, a change in the working conditions also causes some morphological changes that cannot be quantitatively analyzed in the diesel-air flow pattern. The transition characteristics of the flow pattern are analyzed, and it is found that the main reason for the change in the flow pattern is the change in the inertial force of the air, surface tension force, and viscous force of diesel (non-dimensional Reynolds number and Weber number describe the transition characteristics in this paper). The surface tension force of diesel decreases and the viscous force of diesel and inertial force of air increase when the air-diesel velocity ratio increases or H/D decreases. However, the effects of the diesel surface tension force and viscous force effect are much smaller than that of the air inertial force, which changes the diesel-air flow pattern from a drop pattern to a vibration jet pattern, broken jet pattern, and then a chaotic jet pattern.

Numerical Simulation of Two-Phase Slug Flows in Microchannels

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Mehdizadeh ◽  
S. A. Sherif ◽  
W. E. Lear
Keyword(s):  
Surface Tension ◽  
Slug Flow ◽  
Stokes Equations ◽  
Pressure Fluctuations ◽  
Water Interface ◽  
Liquid Slug ◽  
Complex Flow ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Air Water Interface ◽  
Slug Flows

In this paper the Navier-stokes equations for a single liquid slug have been solved in order to predict the circulation patterns within the slug. Surface tension effects on the air-water interface have been investigated by solving the Young–Laplace equation. The calculated interface shape has been utilized to define the liquid slug geometry at the front and tail interfaces of the slug. Then the effects of the surface tension on the hydrodynamics of the two-phase slug flow have been compared to those where no surface tension forces exist. The importance of the complex flow field features in the vicinity of the two interfaces has been investigated by defining a non-dimensional form of the wall shear stress. The latter quantity has been formulated based on non-dimensional parameters in order to define a general Moody friction factor for typical two-phase slug flows in microchannels. Moreover, the hydrodynamics of slug flow formation has been examined using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The volume-of-fluid (VOF) method has been applied to monitor the growth of the instability at the air-water interface. The lengths of the slugs have been correlated to the pressure fluctuations in the mixing region of the air and water streams at an axisymmetric T-junction. The main frequencies of the pressure fluctuations have been investigated using the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) method.

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