TITLE : TWO-PHASE TURBULENT AIR-WATER FLOW IN A BUBBLE COLUMN

BY : CHAM Development Team - M R Malin

FOR : PHOENICS Validation of 2-Phase Modelling Options

DETAILS :

• 2D turbulent 2-phase bubbly air-water flow in a bubble column.
• Cylindrical-polar computational grid.
• Bubble column dimensions: diameter = 0.288 m height = 4.25 m.
• Interphase momentum transfer accounts for drag with bubble distortion, virtual mass forces and lift forces.
• Turbulence represented via the k-e turbulence model with additional source terms to account for bubble-induced turbulence.
• The bubble diameter is taken as 10mm.

  NOTES :

• Bubble column studied experimentally and numerically by Svendsen et al [1990, 1992]; measurements taken at a height of 1.6 m.
• Air and water enter uniformly at the base of the column with inlet superficial velocities of 0.08m/s and 0.01m/s, respectively.
• The inlet void fraction is taken as 0.2.
• Both phases are allowed to leave at the top of the column.
• The expected flow pattern is a clockwise liquid circulation, with upflow at the column centre and downflow at the outer wall.
• The mesh employed uses 15 radial by 13 vertical cells.

PICTURES :

1. Water velocity vectors. 2. Air velocity vectors. 3. Void-fraction contours. 4. Void-fraction profiles at z=1.6m. 5. Water vertical-velocity profiles at z=1.6m.

TRONDHEIM BUBBLE COLUMN: Water velocity vectors
TRONDHEIM BUBBLE COLUMN: Air velocity vectors
TRONDHEIM BUBBLE COLUMN: Void-fraction contours
TRONDHEIM BUBBLE COLUMN: Water vertical-velocity profiles at z=1.6m