Fluent User Services Center Introductory FLUENT Notes

FLUENT v6.0 Jan 2002

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Modeling Multiphase Flows

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Introduction
 In the world of CFD, Multiphase Flow is simultaneous flow of:
 Matter with different phases (i.e., gas, liquid and/or solids).
 Matter with different chemical substances but with the same phase (e.g.,
oil-water).
 The fluid system is defined by a primary and multiple secondary
phases.
 One of the phases is considered continuous (primary)
 The others (secondary) are considered Secondary Phase
to be dispersed within the continuous phase.
 Typically, a diameter has to be assigned
for each secondary phase to calculate its
interaction with the primary phase.

Primary Phase

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Multiphase Flow Regimes

 Multiphase Flow Regimes
 Bubbly flow: Discrete gaseous bubbles in a
continuous fluid
liquid-liquid
gas-liquid

 Droplet flow: Discrete fluid droplets in a continuous

gas
 Slug flow: Large bubbles in a continuous liquid
 Stratified/free-surface flow: Immiscible fluids
separated by a clearly-defined interface
 Particle-laden flow: Discrete solid particles in a
gas-solid

continuous gas
 Pneumatic Tranpsort: packed bed type flows
 Fluidized Bed: gas flow in distributor
 Slurry Flow: particle flow in liquids
liquid-solid

 Hydrotranpsort: densely distributed solid particles in

liquid
 Sedimentation: particle flow in liquids which
accumulate at bottom of tank

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Multiphase Flow Applications by Regime

 Bubbly flow: absorbers, aeration, air lift pumps, cavitation, evaporators,
flotation, scrubbers
liquid-liquid
gas-liquid

 Droplet flow: absorbers, atomizers, combustors, cryogenic pumping,

dryers, evaporation, gas cooling, scrubbers
 Slug flow: large bubble motion in pipes or tanks
 Stratified/free-surface flow: sloshing in offshore separator devices,
boiling and condensation in nuclear reactors
 Particle-laden flow: cyclone separators, air classifiers, dust collectors,
gas-solid

and dust-laden environmental flows

 Pneumatic transport: transport of cement, grains, and metal powders
 Fluidized bed: fluidized bed reactors, circulating fluidized beds
 Slurry flow: slurry transport, mineral processing
liquid-solid

 Hydrotransport: mineral processing, biomedical and physiochemical

fluid systems
 Sedimentation: mineral processing, water treatment
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Characterizing Multiphase Flows

 Dilute phase vs. Dense phase
 Refers to the volume fraction of secondary phase(s)

 Volume fraction = Volume of the phase in a cell/domain Vprimary

Volume of the cell/domain

 Laminar vs. Turbulent

 Each phase could be laminar or turbulent.
 Fluid flow (primary) may be turbulent with
respect to the secondary phase but may be laminar
with respect to the vessel Vsecondary
 In a dilute secondary phase, the small particles follow Vcell
the fluid flow and typically exhibits laminar motion.
 A dense phase at large velocities exhibits turbulent
behavior.

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Characterizing Multiphase Flows:

Particulate Loading
 Particulate Loading, β
 Mass density ratio of the secondary phase (s) to the primary phase (p).
 β = α sρ s / α pρ p
 Where α = volume fraction and ρ = density.
 Low particle loading: coupling between phases is one-way
 Secondary phase does not significantly influence primary phase.
 Moderate particle loading: coupling between phases is two-way
 The secondary phase influences the primary phase.
 High particle loading: coupling between phases is four-way
 ‘particles’ that comprise secondary phases develop their own pressure
and stresses (particle-particle interaction).

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Characterizing Multiphase Flows:

Stokes Number
 Stokes Number, St
 Ratio of particle relaxation time to characteristic time scale of problem.
 St = τ p / τ c
 Where τ p = ρ sds2 / 18µ p and
 τ p = D / U (D and U are characteristic length and velocity scales of
problem)
 St << 1
 particles have ample time to respond to the flow field and are in
equilibrium.
 St > 1
 particles velocities are unaffected by surrounding flow field.

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Choosing a Multiphase Model

 User must know a priori the characteristics of the flow:
 Flow regime, e.g., bubbly flow, slug flow, annular flow, etc.
 Your application may operate under several multiphase regimes.
 In practice, only one multiphase flow regime can be modeled at a time.
 Predicting the transition from one regime to another possible only if the
flow regimes can be predicted by the same model.
▲ e.g., Slug and annular flow predicted by the VOF model
 Laminar or turbulent
 Dilute or dense
 Particulate Loading
 Stokes Number
 Secondary phase diameter for drag considerations

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Multiphase Solution Methodologies

 Two approaches for numerical calculation of multiphase flows:
 Eulerian-Lagrangian Approach
 Fluid phase is treated as a continuum.
 Dispersed phase is solved by tracking ‘particles’ through flow field.
▲ Can exchange momentum, mass, energy with the fluid phase.
 Assumes particle-particle interaction is negligible.
▲ Requires low volume fraction of dispersed phase.
 Eulerian-Eulerian Approach
 Different phases are treated as interpenetrating continua.
 Phasic volume fraction defines volume fraction of phase in a given region.
 Conservation equations are developed for each phase and/or mixture of
phases.
 Phases are coupled through interphase exchange terms.

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Multiphase Models in Fluent

 Eulerian-Lagrangian
 Dispersed Phase Model (DPM)
 Eulerian-Eulerian
 Mixture Model
 Eulerian Multiphase Flow Model
 Granular Option
 Eulerian-Granular Multiphase Model
in Fluent4.5
 Volume of Fluid Model (VOF)
 Fluent also provides a
Cavitation phase change
sub-model

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Dispersed Phase Model

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Discrete Phase Model (DPM)

 Description
 Trajectories of particles/droplets/bubbles are computed in a Lagrangian frame.
 Particles can exchange heat, mass, and momentum with continuous gas phase.
 Each trajectory represents a group of particles of the same initial properties.
 Particle-Particle interaction is neglected.

 Numerous sub-modeling capabilities: du p    
= f drag (u − u p ) + g ( ρ p − ρ ) / ρ p + F / ρ p
 Heating/cooling of the discrete phase dt
 Vaporization and boiling of liquid droplets
 Volatile evolution and char combustion for combusting particles
 Droplet breakup and coalescence using Spray Models
 Erosion/Accretion
 Numerous Applications
 Particle separation and classification, spray drying, aerosol dispersion,
bubble sparging of liquids, liquid fuel and coal combustion.
 Discrete phase volume fraction must < 10% (mass loading is not limited).

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Turbulent Particle Dispersion

 Turbulent dispersion is important because:
 Physically realistic (but computationally more expensive)
 Enhances stability by smoothing source terms and eliminating local spikes in
coupling to the gas phase.
 Modeling Turbulent Dispersion
 Stochastic Tracking Model
 Turbulent dispersion modeled by an ensemble of Monte-Carlo realizations.
 Particles convected by mean velocity plus a random velocity fluctuation.
 Particle Cloud Model
 Assuming a 3D multi-variate Gaussian distribution about mean particle track,
particle loading within three standard deviations is calculated.
 Decreased computational expense over stochastic tracking approach.
 Decreased accuracy since:
▲ Gas phase properties (e.g. temperature) are averaged within cloud.
▲ Poor prediction of large recirculation zones.

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DPM Setup
 Define → Models →
Discrete Phase...

DPM BCs:
 Escape
 Trap
 Reflect Display → Particle Tracks...

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DPM Boundary Conditions

 Boundary Conditions for DPM
must be set.
 Escape

 Trap

 Reflect

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User Defined Function Access in DPM

 User defined functions (UDF’s) are provided for access to the discrete
phase model. Functions are provided for user defined:
 drag

 external force

 laws for reacting particles and droplets

 customized switching between laws

 output for sample planes

 erosion/accretion rates

 access to particle definition at injection time

 scalars associated with each particle and access at each particle time

step (possible to integrate scalar variables over life of particle)

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The Mixture Model

Courtesy of
Fuller Company

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The Mixture Model

 Description
 Mixture model is simplified Eulerian approach for modeling N-phase flows.
 Full multiphase model depends strongly on the reliability of closure relations and, as
such, is impractical to model wide distributions in particle size.
 Solves the mixture momentum equation (for mass averaged mixture velocity) and
prescribes relative velocities to describe the dispersed phases.
 Interphase exchange terms depend on relative (slip) velocities which are algebraically
determined.
 Turbulence and Energy equations are also solved for the mixture, if required.
▲ Energy equation is new in v6.
▲ One of the phases may be defined as compressible.
 Solves transport equation for volume fraction of each secondary phase.
 Applications
 Low to moderate particulate loadings and low St << 1
 Bubbly flows, cyclone separators.
 Since single velocity field is determined, cannot predict counter-current flows.

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Mixture Model Equations

 Solves one equation for continuity of the mixture
∂ρ m 
+ ∇ ⋅ ( ρ mu m ) = m
∂t
 Solves for the transport of volume fraction of each secondary phase
∂  
(α k ρ k ) + ∇ ⋅ (α k ρ k um ) = −∇ ⋅ (α k ρ k ukr ) “drift velocity”
∂t   
ukr = uk − um
 Solves one equation for the momentum of the mixture
∂ 
∂t
 
[  T  
]  n  
( ρum ) + ∇ ⋅ ( ρ mumum ) = −∇ p + ∇ ⋅ µ m (∇um + ∇um ) + ρ m g + F + ∇ ⋅  ∑ α k ρ k ukr ukr 
 k =1 
 Where mixture properties are defined as:

∑k =1 k k k
n
n n
 α ρ u
ρm = ∑α k ρk µm = ∑α k µk um =
k =1 k =1 ρm

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Mixture Model Setup (1)

 Define → Models → Multiphase…

 Define → Phases…

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Mixture Model Setup (2)

 Boundary Conditions

 Volume fraction defined

for secondary phases.
 To define initial phase location,
Patch volume fractions after
solution initialization.
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The Eulerian Multiphase Model

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The Eulerian Multiphase Model

 Description
 The most sophisticated and general purpose multiphase model.
 Used to model multiple interpenetrating phases (gas, liquid, and/or solid).
 Solves momentum and continuity equations for each phase.
 Volume fractions characterize equation set for each phase.
 Coupling among phases achieved through interphase exchange terms.
▲ Several models available to define interphase exchange coefficients.
– Typically drag coefficient models described in terms of local Re.
▲ Strong coupling makes this model more difficult to use than Mixture Model.
 Energy equation not yet implemented in v6.0.
▲ Compressible flow not allowed.
 Uses a single pressure field for all phases.
 Applications
 Mixing tanks, bubble columns
 Not recommended for use with immiscible fluid flows (free surface).

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Eulerian Model Equations

 Continuity: Volume fraction for qth phase

∂
α q ρ q + ∇ ⋅ (α q ρ q uq ) = ∑ m pq
n

∂t p =1

 Momentum for qth phase:

( ) ( )
∂    
(α q ρ quq ) + ∇ ⋅ (α q ρ ququq ) = −α q∇p + α q ρ q g + ∇ ⋅τ q + ∑ R pq + m pquq + α q ρ q Fq + Flift ,q + Fvm,q
n
   
∂t p =1

transient convective pressure body shear interphase interphase external, lift, and
forces mass virtual mass forces
Solids pressure term is included
exchange exchange
for granular model.

The interphase exchange forces are expressed: R pq = K pq ( u p − uq )

 
 
 In general: Fpq = − Fqp

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Turbulence in Eulerian Models

 All k-ε Turbulence models are available.
 Three different implementations:
 Mixture
 The mixture approach is the default
 Applicable to separating or stratified multiphase flows.
 The density ratio between phases must be ~O(1).
 Dispersed
 The dispersed model solves the standard k−ε equations for the primary
phase and uses Tchen’s theory of dispersion for the secondary phases.
 Per Phase
 The third model solves for standard k−ε for each phase.

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Eulerian Model Setup (1)

 Define → Phases…

 Define → Models → Viscous…

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Eulerian Model Setup (2)

 Boundary Conditions

 Volume fraction defined

for secondary phases.
 To define initial phase
location, Patch volume fractions
after solution initialization.
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The Eulerian Multiphase Model: Granular Option

 Description
 For fluid-granular flows, each granular phase is treated as a distinct interpenetrating
granular ‘fluid’.
 In addition to primary fluid phase, secondary granular phase momentum equations are
solved.
 Solid-phase stresses and properties derived using analogy of thermal motion of
molecules.
▲ Intensity of particle velocity fluctuations determines the stresses, viscosity, and pressure
of the solid phase.
▲ Kinetic energy associated with the particle velocity fluctuations represented by a
``pseudothermal'' or granular temperature.
▲ Inelasticity of the granular phase is taken into account.
 Applications
 High particle loading flows
 Slurry flows, sedimentation, hydrotransport, fluidized beds, risers, packed bed reactors

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Eulerian-Granular Model Setup

 Granular option must be enabled when
defining the secondary phases.
 Granular properties require definition.
 Phase interaction models appropriate for
granular flows must be selected.

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Cavitation Submodel
 Description
 The Cavitation model was designed for two interpenetrating fluids and models
the formation of bubbles when the local pressure becomes less than the
vaporization pressure.
 An initial bubble density must be provided.
 The size of the bubbles may vary according
to local conditions.

 2( p B − p )
 , pv > p
dR  3ρ L
=
dt  2( pB − p)
− , pv < p
 3ρ L
 Can be used with the Mixture and Eulerian
models (incompatible with VOF).
 The secondary phase may be compressible.

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The Volume of Fluid Model (VOF)

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The Volume of Fluid Model (VOF)

 Description
 The VOF model is designed to track the position of the interface between
two or more immiscible fluids.
 A single momentum equation is solved and the resulting velocity field is
shared by all phases.
 Turbulence and energy equations are also shared by all phases, if required.
▲ One of the phases may be defined as compressible.
 Surface tension and wall adhesion effects can be taken into account.
 Solves transport equation for volume fraction of each secondary phase.
 Recommended that simulation be performed unsteady.
 Applications:
 Stratified flows, free-surface flows
 Filling, sloshing, motion of large bubbles (relative to cell size).

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Interface Interpolation Schemes

 The standard interpolation schemes used in Fluent are

r
used to obtain the face fluxes whenever a cell is

po
va
completely filled with one phase.

d
ui
liq
 Four interpolation schemes available for evaluating
face fluxes when interface is in cell.
 Geometric Reconstruction

r
po
va
 Default scheme, must be used unsteady, most accurate

d
ui
Donor-Acceptor

liq

decreasing accuracy

 Must be used unsteady, best scheme if mesh contains

highly skewed hex elements.

r
Euler-Explicit

po


va
 Must be used unsteady, use if skewed cells exist in a

d
ui
liq
tet/hybrid mesh.
 Implicit
 Can be used steady or unsteady.

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VOF Model Setup

 Define → Models → Multiphase…

 Define → Phases…

 Define → Operating Conditions…

 Operating Density should be set to that of
lightest phase with body forces enabled.

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UDFs for Multiphase Applications

Domain ID = 1
 When a multiphase model is
enabled, storage for properties and Mixture Domain Mixture
Mixturethread
thread
variables is set aside for mixture as
well as for individual phases.
 Additional thread and domain data
structures required. Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3
2 3 4 Domain
 In general the type of DEFINE Domain Domain

macro determines which thread or

Phase thread
domain (mixture or phase) gets
passed to your UDF. 5 Interaction
Interactiondomain
domain
 e.g. C_R(cell,thread) will return
the mixture density if thread is the
mixture thread or the phase densities
if it is the phase thread.
Domain ID
 Numerous macros exist for data
retrieval.

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Summary
 In practice, only one multiphase flow regime can be modeled at a time.
 Choose a multiphase model based on flow regime, particle loading,
and Stokes number.
 For free surface and stratified flows, choose VOF.
 For High particle loading flows use Eulerian-Granular Model.
 For Low-to-Moderate particle loadings consider Stokes number:
 For St > 1, Mixture model is not applicable.
▲ Choose DPM or Eulerian.
 For St ≤ 1, all models are applicable
▲ Choose least CPU demanding model based on other requirements.
 Strong coupling among phase equations solve better with lowered
under-relaxation factors.

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