Narrow Results

The lattice Boltzmann (LB) method, based on mesoscopic modeling of transport phenomena, appears to be an attractive alternative for the simulation of complex fluid flows. Examples of such complex dynamics are multiphase and multicomponent flows for which several LB models have already been proposed. However, due to theoretical or numerical reasons, some of these models may require application of high-order lattice-Boltzmann equations (LBEs) and stencils. Here, we will present a derivation of LBEs from the discrete-velocity Boltzmann equation (DVBE). By using the method of characteristics, high-order accurate equations are conveniently formulated with standard numerical methods for ordinary differential equations (ODEs). In particular, we will derive implicit LB schemes due to their stability properties. A simple algorithm is presented which enables implementation of the implicit schemes without resorting to, e.g. change of variables. Finally, some numerical experiments with high-order equations and stencils together with two specific multiphase models are presented.

We employ a recently formulated axisymmetric version of the multiphase Shan–Chen (SC) lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) [S. Srivastava et al., Phys. Rev. E88, 013309 (2013)] to simulate the contraction of a liquid ligament. We compare the axisymmetric LBM simulation against the slender jet (SJ) approximation model [T. Driessen and R. Jeurissen, Int. J. Comput. Fluid Dyn.25, 333 (2011)]. We compare the retraction dynamics of the tail-end of the liquid ligament from the LBM simulation, the SJ model, Flow3D simulations and a simple model based on the force balance (FB). We find good agreement between the theoretical prediction FB, the SJ model and the LBM simulations.

This study describes the behavior of bubbles rising under gravity using the Shan and Chen-type multicomponent multiphase lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) [X. Shan and H. Chen, Phys. Rev. E47, 1815 (1993)]. Two-dimensional (2D) single bubble motions were simulated, considering the buoyancy effect for which the topology of the bubble was characterized by the nondimensional Eötvös (Eo), and Morton (M) numbers. In this study, a new approach based on the "effective buoyancy" was adopted and proven to be consistent with the expected bubble shape deformation. This approach expands the range of effective density differences between the bubble and the liquid that can be simulated. Based on the balance of forces acting on the bubble, it can deform from spherical to ellipsoidal shape with skirts appearing at high Eo number. A benchmark computational case for qualitative and quantitative validation was performed using COMSOL Multiphysics based on the level set method. Simulations were conducted for 1 ≤ Eo ≤ 100 and 3 × 10^-6 ≤ M ≤ 2.73 × 10^-3. Interfacial tension was checked through simulations without gravity, where Laplace's law was satisfied. Finally, quantitative analyses based on the terminal rise velocity and the degree of circularity was performed for various Eo and M values. Our results were compared with both the theoretical shape regimes given in literature and available simulation results.

Two-phase flow is important in both science and engineering. In this paper, a D2Q5 multi-relaxation-time lattice Boltzmann model is proposed for solving Allen–Cahn equation, which is a convection–diffusion equation for the order parameter. Through Chapmann–Enskog analysis, the macroscopic equations can be recovered from the D2Q5 MRT LB model. Then, a detailed numerical study on several classical problems is performed to give a comparison between the present model for the AC equation and the previous study. The results show that the present model gets better accuracy and has better stability than that of single-relaxation-time LB model, and has higher computational efficiency than that of D2Q9 MRT LB model. Furthermore, as an important application, the model is also used to study the deformation field problem because of its excellent ability to cope with complex and changeable boundaries.

We present a numerical method to deal efficiently with large numbers of particles in incompressible fluids. The interactions between particles and fluid are taken into account by a physically motivated ansatz based on locally defined drag forces. We demonstrate the validity of our approach by performing numerical simulations of sedimenting non-Brownian spheres in two spatial dimensions and compare our results with experiments. Our method reproduces qualitatively important aspects of the experimental findings, in particular the strong anisotropy of the hydrodynamic bulk self-diffusivities.

A two-dimensional lattice-Boltzmann model with a hexagonal lattice is developed to simulate a boiling two-phase flow microscopically. Liquid-gas phase transition and bubble dynamics, including bubble formation, growth and deformation, are modeled by using an interparticle potential based on the van der Waals equation of state. Thermohydrodynamics is incorporated into the model by adding extra velocities to define temperature. The lattice-Boltzmann model is solved by a finite difference scheme so that numerical stability can be ensured at large discontinuity across the liquid-gas phase boundary and the narrow phase interface thickness can be attained. It is shown from numerical simulations that the model has the ability to reproduce phase transition, bubble dynamics and thermohydrodynamics while assuring numerical instability and narrow phase interface.

An investigation method for thermal immiscible mixture fluid flow in rectangular multi-jet cavity using lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is presented to study influence of controllable factors on quality of mixture generated from the cavity. For immiscible mixture flow, contact area of fluids has great effect on generated mixture. The basic idea is to investigate the relationship between controllable factors and contact area of key components. The contact area is obtained through numerical simulation by an improved LBM, in which temperature equation is extended to multicomponent system. A case study of thermal mixture flow in three-jet cavity using the present method is shown.

Ink-jet technology is a novel method for rapid deposition of accurately measured material with high precision. Consequently it has been used for applications such as, deposition of light emitting polymers and more recently for fabricating 3D objects and micro-mechanical structures. Ink-jet technology is also being applied to produce tactile maps for the visually impaired. The efficiency of the tactile maps, as outlined by psychophysical and cartographic studies of haptics, depends on its 3D features. To comprehend and control these features, detailed understanding of interaction amongst micro-drops, which are typically 50μm in diameter, is imperative. Multiphase interaction takes place between each liquid drop at impact with liquid or solid cured drops (deposited previously) and the solid substrate in an envelop of air. The behavior of micro-drops with regards to surface tension, drop coalescence among liquid and solid drops, drop impact kinetics, wettability, surface energy and drop spread has been analyzed using a computational model.

This paper presents the application of an adaptive stencil diffuse interface method to the simulation of dam break problem. The adaptive stencil diffuse interface method is the combination of the diffuse interface method and a stencil adaptive algorithm, where the diffuse interface method is used as the solver, and the adaptive stencil refinement scheme is applied to improve the resolution around the interface so that the fine-scale interface behavior can be captured. In this paper, we use this method to simulate the dam break problem, study the dam height and leading edge position, and compare our results with the experiment data available in the literature. It is shown that the results using the adaptive stencil diffuse interface method agree very well with the experimental results.

We introduce a diffuse interface model for the phenomenon of electrowetting on dielectric and present an analysis of the arising system of equations. Moreover, we study discretization techniques for the problem. The model takes into account different material parameters on each phase and incorporates the most important physical processes, such as incompressibility, electrostatics and dynamic contact lines; necessary to properly reflect the relevant phenomena. The arising nonlinear system couples the variable density incompressible Navier–Stokes equations for velocity and pressure with a Cahn–Hilliard type equation for the phase variable and chemical potential, a convection diffusion equation for the electric charges and a Poisson equation for the electric potential. Numerical experiments are presented, which illustrate the wide range of effects the model is able to capture, such as splitting and coalescence of droplets.

Multiphase flow in porous media is very important in various scientific and engineering fields. It has been shown that relative permeability plays an important role in determination of flow characteristics for multiphase flow. The accurate prediction of multiphase flow in porous media is hence highly important. In this work, a novel predictive model for relative permeability in porous media is developed based on the fractal theory. The predictions of two-phase relative permeability by the current mathematical models have been validated by comparing with available experimental data. The predictions by the proposed model show the same variation trend with the available experimental data and are in good agreement with the existing experiments. Every parameter in the proposed model has clear physical meaning. The proposed relative permeability is expressed as a function of the immobile liquid film thickness, pore structural parameters (pore fractal dimension D_f and tortuosity fractal dimension D_T) and fluid viscosity ratio. The effects of these parameters on relative permeability of porous media are discussed in detail.

The multiphase flow behavior in shale porous media is known to be affected by multiscale pore size, dual surface wettability, and nanoscale transport mechanisms. However, it has not been fully understood so far. In this study, fractal model of gas–water relative permeabilities (RP) in dual-wettability shale porous media for both injected water spontaneous imbibition and the flow back process are proposed using fractal geometry. The shale pore structure is described as tortuous with different pore sizes and morphologies including slit pore, equilateral triangle, circular pore and square pore. The proportion of each pore morphology can be obtained from SEM/FIB-SEM pore structure characterization results. Injected water spontaneous imbibition after hydraulic fracturing is modeled as the capillary force dominated process and injected water flow back is modeled as a non-wetting gas phase drainage process in inorganic matter. The organic pores are deemed to be not accessible by injected water. The boundary slip of water and free gas flow in the inorganic matrix are considered while both free gas flow and adsorbed gas flow are modeled in organic matter. The proposed gas–water RP fractal model is verified via comparisons with the available experimental data and is discussed in detail. Study results reveal that gas phase RP increases with increasing pore fractal dimensions and tortuosity fractal dimensions, whereas it decreases with increasing Total Organic Carbon (TOC) volumes. Water phase RP decreases with increasing of pore fractal dimensions and tortuosity fractal dimensions, whereas it increases with increasing TOC volumes.

In this paper, we present a numerical model based on the widely used finite element formulation to analyze in detail the effect of surface active agents on capillary–gravity wave parameters such as phase velocity and wave amplitude. Moreover, the effect of a physicochemical parameter, which is the ratio of surface concentration to surface tension is also considered. For a number of fluid samples covering a range of concentrations from 0 to 0.01 molar, the phase speed of waves propagating on the surface of the liquid is found to decrease monotonically as the concentration of the solution considered is increased up to a limit of 0.004 molar. This is attributed to the corresponding increase in capillary number. It is shown numerically that the Marangoni effects contribute to the interfacial dynamics for fluid with physicochemical parameter value greater than 0.5. Moreover, a grid refinement study shows accuracies and convergence orders of the numerical model.

In this paper, we present a theoretical analysis of the problem of hematocrit reduction (due to plasma skimming) in a capillary that emerges from an artery making an angle α with the parent artery. The analysis bears the potential to explore a variety of information regarding some phenomenological aspects of this important physiological problem. The flow is considered to consist of three distinct phases, viz., the peripheral plasma layer, the cell-depleted middle layer, and the core region which usually has a high concentration of erythrocytes. This study deals with both steady and pulsatile flow of blood, which is treated as a non-Newtonian fluid of Herschel–Bulkley type. A computational procedure is developed for a quantitative measure of the velocity profile, the volumetric flow rate, and the hematocrit of blood in a specific situation. The procedure also gives us an opportunity to examine the nature of variation of these important hemodynamic factors; this observation holds true irrespective of whether the flow of blood is steady or pulsatile. The study reveals that the velocity of blood in the parent artery reduces when the fluid index/yield stress increases. It is further revealed that the volumetric flow rate of blood in the capillary also decreases with an increase in the value of the fluid index/yield stress of blood.

In this paper, in order to investigate movement of Red Blood Cells (RBCs) toward the centre area of blood vessels CFD modeling is done. Subjects of this study are a sample of arteriole vessel with 8 mm inside diameter without any branch (1st model) and another vessel which has 8 mm inside diameter, with a side branch by 2 mm inside diameter (2nd model). In 1st model, four different inlet velocities are applied to see the effect of boundary condition on wall shear stress and volume fraction. The multiphase model is extended to include the blood rheological properties at low shear rates that present the non-Newtonian CFD model. In addition, Eulerian multiphase CFD approach is adopted for describing the hemodynamic of blood flows. The migration and segregation of red blood cells in disturbed flow regions are evaluated. This behavior of blood was attributed to flow-dependent interactions of RBCs in blood flow. Moreover, the effect of inlet velocity on RBCs aggregation and WSS is clearly recognizable from results. This two-phase hemodynamic analysis may have application to study those kinds of vascular diseases which are dealing with RBCs change in size and shape with in vivo complex flow conditions.

In simulations of multiphase fluid flow using the phase-field method (PFM), the wetting boundary condition is required for off-grid objects. In this study, we propose an improved implementation of the wetting boundary condition for off-grid objects to reduce anisotropic errors arising from use of a rectangular grid. Our implementation of the phase-field wetting boundary condition conforms to the immersed-boundary formulation of solid–fluid interfaces; therefore, we call the immersed-boundary phase-field implementation (IB-PFI). We performed simulations with and without IB-PFI for (a) droplets adhering to circular objects and (b) capillary flow in a parallel-plate channel. In simulations without IB-PFI, anisotropic errors were induced by off-grid objects, and the results deviated from theoretical predictions. In contrast, simulations with IB-PFI suppressed the anisotropic errors and agreed with the theoretical predictions. Thus, IB-PFI extends the applicability of the PFM to simulations of multiphase fluid flows under numerous geometric conditions.

We present a fully second order IMplicit/EXplicit (IMEX) time integration technique for solving incompressible multi-phase flow problems. A typical incompressible multi-phase flow model consists of the Navier–Stokes equations plus an interface dynamics equation (e.g., the level set equation). Our IMEX strategy is applied to such a model in the following manner. The hyperbolic terms of the Navier–Stokes equations together with the interface dynamics equation are solved explicitly (Explicit Block) making use of the well-understood explicit numerical schemes [Leveque, R. J. [1998] Finite Volume Methods for Hyperbolic Problems, “Texts in Applied Mathematics”, (Cambridge University Press); Thomas, J. W. [1999] Numerical Partial Differential Equations II (Conservation Laws and Elliptic Equations), “Texts in Applied Mathematics” (Springer-Verlag, New York)]. On the other hand, the nonhyperbolic (stiff) parts of the flow equations are solved implicitly (Implicit Block) within the framework of the Jacobian-Free Newton Krylov (JFNK) method [Knoll, D. A. and Keyes, D. E. [2004] Jacobian-free Newton Krylov methods: A survey of approaches and applications. J. Comput. Phys.193, 357–397; Saad, Y. [2003] Iterative Methods for Sparse Linear Systems (Siam); Kelley, C. T. [2003] Solving Nonlinear Equations with Newton’s Method (Siam)]. In our algorithm implementation, the explicit block is embedded in the implicit block in a way that it is always part of the nonlinear function evaluation. In this way, there exists a continuous interaction between the implicit and explicit algorithm blocks meaning that the improved solutions (in terms of time accuracy) at each nonlinear iteration are immediately felt by the explicit block and the improved explicit solutions are readily available to form the next set of nonlinear residuals. This continuous interaction between the two algorithm blocks results in an implicitly balanced algorithm in that all nonlinearities due to coupling of different time terms are converged with the desired numerical time accuracy. In other words, we obtain a self-consistent IMEX method that eliminates the possible order reductions in time convergence that is quite common in certain types of nonlinearly coupled systems. We remark that an incompressible multi-phase flow model can be a highly nonlinearly coupled system with the involvement of very stiff surface tension source terms. These kinds of flow problems are difficult to tackle numerically. In other words, highly nonlinear surface terms may remain unconverged leading to time inaccuracies or time order reductions to the first order even though the overall numerical scheme is designed as high order (second-order or higher) [Sussman, M. and Ohta, M. [2009] A stable and efficient method for treating surface tension in incompressible two-phase flow, SIAM J. Sci. Comput.31(4), 2447–2471; Zheng, W., Zhu, B., Kim, B. and Fedkiw, R. [2015] A new incompressibility discretization for a hybrid particle MAC grid representation with surface tension, J. Comput. Phys.280, 96–142]. These and few more issues are addressed in this paper. We have numerically tested our newly proposed scheme by solving several multi-phase flow settings such as an air bubble rising in water, a Rayleigh–Taylor instability problem that is initiated by placing a heavy fluid on top of a lighter one, and a droplet problem in which a water droplet hits the pool of water. Our numerical results show that we have achieved the second-order time accuracy without any order reductions. Moreover, the interfaces between the fluids are captured reasonably well.

We are interested in solving systems of conservation laws modeling multiphase fluid flows under the approximation of local thermodynamical equilibrium except at very localized places. This equilibrium occurs for states on sheets of a stratified variety called the "thermodynamical equilibrium variety," obtained from thermodynamical laws. Strong deviation from equilibrium occurs in shocks connecting adjacent sheets of this variety.

We assume that fluids may expand and we model the physical problem by a system of equations where a velocity variable appears only in the flux terms, giving rise to a wave with "infinite" characteristic speed. We develop a general theory for fundamental solutions for this class of equations. We study all bifurcation loci, such as coincidence and inflection loci and develop a systematic approach to solve problems described by similar equations.

For concreteness, we exhibit the bifurcation theory for a representative system with three equations. We find the complete solution of the Riemann problem for two-phase thermal flow in porous media with two chemical species; to simplify the physics, the liquid phase consists of a single chemical species. We give an example of steam and nitrogen injection into a porous medium, with applications to geothermal energy recovery.

The unique characteristics of gas-solids two-phase flow and fluidization in terms of the flow structures and the apparent behavior of particles and fluid-particle interactions are closely linked to physical properties of the particles, operating conditions and bed configurations. Fluidized beds behave quite differently when solid properties, gas velocities or vessel geometries are varied. An understanding of hydrodynamic changes and how they, in turn, influence the transfer and reaction characteristics of chemical and thermal operations by variations in gas-solid contact, residence time, solid circulation and mixing and gas distribution is very important for the proper design and scale-up of fluidized bed reactors. In this paper, rather than attempting a comprehensive survey, we concentrate on examining some important positive and negative impacts of particle sizes, bubbles, clusters and column walls on the physical and chemical aspects of chemical reactor performance from the engineering application point of view with the aim of forming an adequate concept for guiding the design of multiphase fluidized bed chemical reactors.

One unique phenomenon associated with particle size is that fluidized bed behavior does not always vary monotonically with changing the average particle size. Different behaviors of particles with difference sizes can be well understood by analyzing the relationship between particle size and various forces. For both fine and coarse particles, too narrow a distribution is generally not favorable for smooth fluidization. A too wide size distribution, on the other hand, may lead to particle segregation and high particle elutriation. Good fluidization performance can be established with a proper size distribution in which inter-particle cohesive forces are reduced by the lubricating effect of fine particles on coarse particles for Type A, B and D particles or by the spacing effect of coarse particles or aggregates for Type C powders.

Much emphasis has been paid to the negative impacts of bubbles, such as gas bypassing through bubbles, poor bubble-to-dense phase heat & mass transfer, bubble-induced large pressure fluctuations, process instabilities, catalyst attrition and equipment erosion, and high entrainment of particles induced by erupting bubbles at the bed surface. However, it should be noted that bubble motion and gas circulation through bubbles, together with the motion of particles in bubble wakes and clouds, contribute to good gas and solids mixing. The formation of clusters can be attributed to the movement of trailing particles into the low-pressure wake region of leading particles or clusters. On one hand, the existence of down-flowing clusters induces strong solid back-mixing and non-uniform radial distributions of particle velocities and holdups, which is undesirable for chemical reactions. On the other hand, the formation of clusters creates high solids holdups in the riser by inducing internal solids circulations, which are usually beneficial for increasing concentrations of solid catalysts or solid reactants.

Wall effects have widely been blamed for complicating the scale-up and design of fluidized-bed reactors. The decrease in wall friction with increasing the column diameter can significantly change the flow patterns and other important characteristics even under identical operating conditions with the same gas and particles. However, internals, which can be considered as a special wall, have been used to improve the fluidized bed reactor performance.

Generally, desirable and undesirable dual characteristics of interaction between particles and fluid are one of the important natures of multiphase flow. It is shown that there exists a critical balance between those positive and negative impacts. Good fluidization quality can always be achieved with a proper choice of right combinations of particle size and size distribution, bubble size and wall design to alleviate the negative impacts.

A theory of nonfluidized gas-solids flow, which combines the theory of multiphase flow with the mechanics of particulate media, was proposed on the basis of understanding that the particles contact each other, solids and gas are in movement, and the drag force on the particles caused by interstitial gas flow is similar to gravity force having the property of mass force. Then this theory was verified by experiments on vertical and inclined moving beds, and was applied to calculation and design of equipment and devices with moving beds, such as pneumatic moving bed transport, dipleg, V-value, L-valve, orifice flow, and arching prevention. It can be used to guide the design and operation of moving beds and fixed beds.