CFD Analysis of S-Gamma Model Coupled With Two-Group Interfacial Area Transport Equations and AMUSIG Model for a Large Diameter Pipe

Abstract This paper describes the modeling of flow regimes beyond bubbly flows in a large diameter channel considering polydispersity and bubble induced turbulence using the Eulerian two-fluid approach. A two-bubble-group approach with two-group interfacial area transport equations (IATEs) is used to demonstrate flow phenomena in a large diameter pipe. Source and sink terms for mass and momentum exchanges between the two groups of bubbles and for bubble coalescence and breakup mechanisms are implemented. For predicting particle size and its distribution, S-Gamma (Sγ) model is used. The Sγ model with two-group IATEs are evaluated by comparing local distributions of void fractions and Sauter mean diameters with results of adaptive-multiple-size-group (AMUSIG) models and experimental dataset developed by Schlegel et al., (2012) for model validations. It shows that two-group IATEs with Sγ model predict reasonably accurate flow characteristics of beyond bubbly flow regimes, but also show shortcomings in their accuracies predicting local distributions, which imply that further studies for modeling of interfacial force are needed.