A numerical study of periodic slug flow at zero gravity and normal gravity |
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Authors: | K Mack J D Bugg K S Gabriel |
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Affiliation: | (1) Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Saskatchewan, 57 Campus Drive, S7N 5A9 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada;(2) University of Ontario Institute of Technology, 2000 Simcoe Street North, L1H 7K4 Oshawa, Ontario, Canada |
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Abstract: | This paper reports numerical simulations of slug flow at zero and normal gravity. The particular experimental results chosen
for validation were obtained at microgravity under conditions which resulted in evenly-spaced and evenly-sized Taylor bubbles
facilitating a simulation with periodic boundary conditions. The numerical technique was a free-surface method which explicitly
tracked the motion of the gas-liquid interface using a volume-of-fluid specification and a finite volume discretisation of
the solution domain. The large scale features of the bubble such as the classic bullet-shaped nose were well predicted by
the model. Unsteady features of the bubble shape such as waves in the film and fluctuations of the bottom surface were also
predicted but are harder to compare quantitatively to the experiments. The velocity field predictions reveal several interesting
features of the flow. When viewed by an observer moving with the bubbles, the liquid slug is dominated by a large recirculating
region with the flow travelling from the leading to the trailing bubble along the tube centreline. In this frame of reference,
the near-wall region features a jet of fluid issuing from the film of the leading bubble which entrains fluid in the slug.
As the film of the trailing bubble begins to form, the entrained fluid must be ejected since the flowrate in the film of each
bubble must be the same. It appears to be this process that drives the main recirculation. |
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