Contribution to complex gas-liquid flows : development and validation of a mathematical model

This study describes the development and validation of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model for the simulation of dispersed two-phase flows taking in the account the population balance of particles size distribution. A two-fluid (Euler-Euler) methodology previously developed for complex flows is adapted to the present project. The continuous phase turbulence is represented using a two-equation k ? [epsilon] turbulence model which contains additional terms to account for the effects of the dispersed on the continuous phase turbulence and the effects of the gas-liquid interface. The inter-phase momentum transfer is determined from the instantaneous forces acting on the dispersed phase, comprising drag, lift, virtual mass and drift velocity. These forces are phase fraction dependent and in this work revised modelling is put forward in order to capture a good accuracy for gas hold-up, liquid velocity profiles and turbulence parameters. Furthermore, a correlation for the effect of the drift velocity on the turbulence behaviour is proposed. The revised modelling is based on an extensive survey of the existing literature. The conservation equations are discretised using the finite-volume method and solved in a solution procedure, which is loosely based on the PISO algorithm. Special techniques are employed to ensure the stability of the procedure when the phase fraction is high or changing rapidely [61]. Finally, assessment of the model is made with reference to experimental data for gas-liquid bubbly flow in a rectangular bubble column [133; 134; 135; 18], in a double-turbine stirred tank reactor [126; 127] and in an air-lift bioreacator [101]