A three-dimensional particle tracking method for bubbly flow simulation

A numerical method for solving a three-dimensional bubbly flow was proposed. The method is based on a two-way particle tracking method, which takes into account the effect of bubbles on the liquid phase and vice versa. In order to demonstrate the potential of the method, laminar bubbly upflow in a vertical duct was simulated using the Eötvös number and bubble size distribution as parameters. As a result, we could obtain typical bubble distributions in a bubbly flow and a void wave in the flow direction as well. It was also confirmed that the method can give good predictions for bubble-induced liquid velocity fields, provided that the bubble size is greater than the size of the computational cell for calculating the liquid phase.