Modeling of the Free-Surface Vortex-Driven Bubble Entrainment into Water

The recently developed GENTOP (Generalized Two Phase Flow) concept, which is based on the multifield Euler‒Euler approach, was applied to model a free-surface vortex—a flow situation that is relevant for hydraulic intake. A new bubble entrainment model has been developed and implemented in the concept. In general, satisfactory agreement with the experimental data can be achieved. However, the gas entrainment can be significantly affected by several parameters or models used in the CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) simulation. The scale of curvature correction C s c a l e in the turbulence model, the coefficient in the entrainment model C e n t , and the assigned bubble size to be entrained have a significant influence on the gas entrainment rate. The gas entrainment increases with higher C s c a l e values, which can be attributed to the stronger rotation captured by the simulation. A smaller bubble size gives higher gas entrainment, while a larger bubble size leads to a smaller entrainment. The results also show that the gas entrainment can be controlled by adjusting the entrainment coefficient C e n t . Based on the modeling framework presented in this paper, further improvement of the physical modeling of the entrainment process should be done.

Modeling Bubble Entrainment and Transport for Ship Wakes: Progress Using Hybrid RANS/LES Methods

This article presents progress on modeling bubble entrainment and transport around ships using hybrid Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes/large eddy simulation (RANS/LES) methods. Previous results using a Boltzmann-based polydisperse bubbly flow model show that LES perform better than RANS in predicting transport of bubbles to depth, a very important process to predict bubbly wakes. However, standard DES-type models fail to predict proper turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) and dissipation, needed by bubble entrainment, breakup, and coalescence models. We propose different approaches to obtain TKE and dissipation in LES regions and evaluate them for cases of increasing complexity, including decay of isotropic turbulence, a flat plate boundary layer, and the flow in the wake of the research vessel Athena. An exponential weighted average is used to estimate statistics and obtain the averaged quantities in regions with resolved turbulence. The TKE is satisfactorily predicted in the cases tested. A modified #x03C9; equation in the SST model is proposed to implicitly compute the dissipation, showing superior results than the standard DES models, although further improvements are necessary. A hybrid RANS/LES approach is proposed, which focused at conserving total TKE as the flow crosses RANS/LES interfaces, as previously performed for zonal approaches but attempting a DES-like detection of regions suitable for LES, critical for large-scale computations of bubbly flows involving complex geometries. A general form of a dynamic forcing term is derived to transfer the modeled TKE to resolved TKE with a controller to guarantee proper conservation of the energy transferred. It was verified that the model is not sensitive to grid size or time step. Improvements to DDES and the proposed TKE-conserving hybrid RANS/LES method show encouraging results, although remaining challenges are discussed.

Air Bubble Entrainment, Breakup, and Interplay in Vertical Plunging Jets

The entrainment, breakup, and interplay of air bubbles were observed in a vertical, two-dimensional supported jet at low impact velocities. Ultra-high-speed movies were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. The onset velocity of bubble entrainment was between 0.9 and 1.1 m/s. Most bubbles were entrained as detached bubbles from elongated air cavities at the impingement point. Explosion, stretching, and dejection mechanisms were observed for individual bubble breakup, and the bubble interaction behaviors encompassed bubble rebound, “kiss-and-go,” coalescence and breakup induced by approaching bubble(s). The effects of jet impact velocity on the bubble behaviors were investigated for impact velocities from 1.0 to 1.36 m/s, in the presence of a shear flow environment.