Toward a General Theory for Multiphase Turbulence Part I: Development and Gauging of the Model Equations

A formalism for developing multiphase turbulence models is introduced by analogy to the phenomenological method used for single-phase turbulence. A sample model developed using the formalism is given in detail. The procedure begins with ensemble averaging of the exact conservation equations, with closure accomplished by using a combination of analytical and experimental results from the literature. The resulting model is applicable to a wide range of common multiphase flows including gas-solid, liquid-solid and gas-liquid (bubbly) flows. The model is positioned for ready extension to three-phase turbulence, or for use in two-phase turbulence in which one phase is accounted for in multiple size classes, representing polydispersivity. The formalism is expected to suggest directions toward a more fundamentally based theory, similar to the way that early work in single-phase turbulence has led to the spectral theory. The approach is unique in that a portion of the total energy decay rate is ascribed to each phase, as is dictated by the exact averaged equations, and results in a transport equation for energy decay rate associated with each phase. What follows is a straightforward definition of a turbulent viscosity for each phase, and accounts for the effect of exchange of fluctuational energy among phases on the turbulent shear viscosity. The model also accounts for the effect of slip momentum transfer among the phases on the production of turbulence kinetic energy and on the tensor character of the Reynolds stress. Collisional effects, when appropriate, are included by superposition. The model reduces to a standard form in limit of a single, pure material, and is expected to do a credible job of describing multiphase turbulent flows in a wide variety of regimes using a single set of coefficients