Multiphase Flow Analysis Using Population Balance Modeling: Bubbles, Drops and Particles

Tu

Introduction

Multiphase systems dealing with bubbles, drops, and particles are frequently encountered in many natural, biological, and industrial systems. The principal objective of this book is to provide applied scientists, practicing engineers, undergraduate and graduate students, and researchers concerned with multiphase phenomena, with a comprehensive critical review of the literature on particle–particle and particle–fluid interactions; a particle may be taken more specifically to be in the form of a gas bubble, liquid drop, or solid particle. There are important similarities as well as significant differences when dealing with these three types of particle. Because of the parallel relevancies, this book aims to examine the different treatments of gas bubbles, liquid drops, and solid particles in order to produce a unified text on the subject.

Guan Heng Yeoh

Chi Pok Cheung

Jiyuan Tu

Chapter 1

Introduction

Abstract

Different classifications of multiphase flows that are found in many diverse natural, biological and industrial systems are described. Analyzing multiphase flows generally requires the understanding of the micro-physics controlling the organization of different phases in specific multiphase flows across different length scales. Effective utilization of computational approaches based on direct numerical simulation to probe into the behaviors of different classifications of multiphase flows is demonstrated. Nevertheless, current limiting computational resources points towards the need of population balance modelling and when coupled with computational fluid dynamics, the behavior and dynamic evolution of the population of gas bubbles, liquid drops and solid particles can be aptly analyzed for practical multiphase flow systems because of its comparatively lower computational requirements.

Keywords

agglomeration; aerocolloidal system; coalescence; energy exchange; fluid force; interphase mass; phase flow; van der Waals forces

1.1 Classification and Application of Multiphase Flows

Multiphase flows can be viewed as a fluid flow system comprising two or more distinct phases simultaneously co-flowing in a mixture where the level of separation between phases is at a scale well above the molecular level. In principle, multiphase flows can be classified on the basis of number of phases, types of phases, size of phases and interaction between phases. Depending on the combination of different phases, multiphase flows can be further classified according to: dispersed phase flows, separated phase flows, gas–liquid flows, liquid–liquid flows, gas–particle flows, liquid–particle flows, and three-phase flows.

Dispersed phase flows can be considered as flows whereby one of the phases exists as discrete particles. Two classical examples are the motion of bubbles in a liquid flow and the motion of liquid droplets in a gas. In such flows, there is no connection between these discrete fluid particles in the liquid. It is thus taken as a mixture of different sized bubbles or droplets that are being dispersed in a continuous medium.

Separated phase flows are different from dispersed phase flows due to the prevalence of a distinct line of contact separating two phases. One example is annular flow where there is a liquid layer along the pipe wall and a gaseous inner core. Categorically, one phase in this type of flow is distinctly separated from another in the same medium.

Gas–liquid flows having one phase being in gaseous form and the other in liquid state can assume many forms. Since the gas phase is permitted to freely deform within the liquid phase, several different geometrical shapes are possible, which include spherical, elliptical, distorted, toroidal and cap. Such flows also often exhibit other complex interfacial structures, namely, mixed or transitional flows that depict the transition between the dispersed phase flows and separated phase flows. Change of interfacial structures occurs through the occurrence of bubble–bubble or droplet–droplet interactions due to coalescence and break up and the presence of any phase change process.

Liquid–liquid flows belong to the special category where two immiscible fluids are co-flowing within the medium. One typical example is the presence of oil droplets in water or vice versa.

Gas–particle flows are concerned with the motion of suspended solid particles in the gas phase. For small particle number density, the gas flow exerts the main effect on the particles. Dilute gas–particle flows are predominantly governed by the surface and body forces acting on the particles. For very dilute gas–particle flows, the solid particles are treated as passive tracers, which do not have an effect on the gas flow. For large particle number density, particle–particle interactions become more important than the forces due to interstitial gas. Such two-phase flows are referred to as dense gas–particle flows. Collisions inherently exist between the solid particles and significantly influence their movement and migration in the gas phase. For substantially bigger particles, such flows are categorically known as granular flows.

Liquid–particle flows, in contrast to gas–particles flows, consist of the transport of solid particles in liquid flow instead. Here, the solid particles do not have a distinct velocity field but generally follow the liquid velocity field. Also known as slurry flows, they fall into the same category as dispersed phase flows in which the liquid now represents the continuous medium. The different liquid and solid phases are mainly driven by, and largely respond to, the presence of pressure gradients since the density ratio between phases is low and the drag between phases is generally rather high in such flows.

Three-phase flows are encountered in a number of engineering applications of technical relevance, for example, bubbles in slurry flows resulting in three phases co-flowing together in the same medium. In this particular category, solid particles and gas bubbles co-flow with the continuous liquid phase. The coexistence of three phases considerably complicates the computational modeling of the flow physics due to the required understanding associated with the phenomena of particle–particle, bubble–bubble, particle–bubble, particle–fluid, and bubble–fluid interactions.

Based on the above classifications, multiphase flows are also widely featured in many diverse natural, biological, and industrial systems. Some examples of multiphase flows that can be distinguished in these three different systems are illustrated in Table 1.1. It should be noted that the list of examples presented in this table is by no means exhaustive but is intended to provide the reader a broad overview of the range of applications and types of multiphase flows that can be found in these systems.

Table 1.1

Examples of multiphase flows in natural, biological and industrial systems.

Multiphase flows are inherently complex. The physical understanding of flows where more than one phase is involved offers problems of complexity that are immeasurably far greater than in single-phase flows. This is because the phases do not, in general, uniformly mix and because small-scale interactions between the phases can have profound effects on the macroscopic properties of the fluid flow. This clearly reflects the ubiquitous challenges that still exist when dealing with the complex nature of multiphase flows.

1.2 Complexity of Multiphase Flows

Dispersed flows of gas bubbles, liquid drops and solid particles are central to the analysis of multiphase flows and development of generic computational approaches. The motion of these particles is strongly affected by the relative motion of the phases within the mixture. As the relative motion becomes large enough, inertial instabilities can give rise to mesoscale structures (Agrawal et al., 2001). The complex nature of such flows is manifested by the appearance of clusters of bubbles, drops or particles (Serizawa, 2003).

In dispersed flows of bubbles or drops, the existence of dynamically changing interface can cause individual gas bubbles or liquid drops to deform, coalesce through the breaking down of the interfaces between the phases to form larger bubbles or drops, and break up into two smaller bubbles or drops due to the shearing of the fluid. As the volume flow of gases or drops increases, coalescence causes the appearance of caplike gas bubbles or liquid drops. For small diameter tubes, a pattern is exhibited whereby slugs of highly aerated liquid fill the whole tube. These so-called Taylor bubbles or drops have characteristics of a spherical cap nose and are somewhat abruptly terminated at the bottom edge. With increasing volume fractions of gases or drops, a churn pattern persists resulting in a haphazard flow of gas–liquid or liquid–liquid mixture. In contrast to small diameter tubes, churn flow can be rather different in large diameter pipes where Taylor bubbles are not formed. At very high velocities of the dispersed phase, an annular pattern is observed whereby part of the liquid flows along the wall and the remainder is the dispersed phase. The complexity of flow regime transitions remains an important problem whereby an improved physical understanding of one flow regime to another is required to establish a sound physical theory for the prediction of the different flow patterns.

In dispersed flows of solid particles, the entire range of particle volume fractions from dilute to dense conditions results in an array of complex physical processes. For dilute particle laden flows with high mass loading ratio, the motion of fluid has a significant effect on the particle motion and vice versa, when present. Interparticle collisions, which may be significant especially in fluid-like suspensions, can lead to particles interacting through interstitial fluid and ephemeral impulsive interactions. For conditions leading to transition from fluid-like to solid-like behavior, such as in a random close packing environment, not only particles will interact with each other through enduring contact between each other but also aggregation between individual solid particles may occur if the net interparticle force is attractive and strong enough to overcome the hydrodynamic forces. Conversely, breakage of the aggregate may be affected by the fluid shear overcoming the attractive interparticle force, which holds the individual solid particles together within the aggregate.

Principally, the difficulty in analyzing multiphase flows lies in the unconstrained behavior of the phases, which can assume a large number of complicated configurations. The main issue toward the understanding of why the phases configure in a particular way requires the identification of the microphysics controlling the organization of the phases of specific multiphase flows. For gas–liquid or liquid–liquid flows, the microphysics problem is the physical understanding of the formation or destruction of the changing interfaces between the fluid and gas bubbles or liquid drops. For gas–particle or liquid–particle flows, since the interfaces remain intact, the microphysics problem predominantly concerns the interfacial forces and interaction behaviors between particles. In turbulent multiphase flows, the possible interactions between turbulent eddies and interfacial structures as well as exchanges between individual phases introduce additional complexities to the flow phenomena. Under some circumstances, the discrete gas bubbles, liquid drops or solid particles can assume large-scale turbulent motions that do not directly reflect the turbulence patterns being observed in the fluid.

One recurring theme throughout the study of multiphase flows is the requirement to model and predict the detailed behavior of such flows and the phenomena that they continue to manifest. Computation of multiphase flows serves many essential roles: (1) as a tool to develop an understanding of the basic physics such as clarifying the importance of physical effects such as surface tension and gravity by adding or removing them, (2) as an aid in closing the averaged transport equations based upon a macroscopic formulation such as the development of closure relationships and testing against numerical simulations, and (3) as a means to solve actual problems such as small-scale problems that can be tackled through direct numerical simulation and large-scale problems via reduced formulations such as averaged transport equations. Computational techniques are becoming powerful tools to resolve a range of multiphase flows. The effective use of a variety of computational approaches to aptly handle different classifications of multiphase flows is demonstrated in Section 1.3.

1.3 Multiscale Characteristics of Multiphase Flows

Multiphase flow physics are inherently multiscale in nature. Figure 1.1 describes the many different physical characteristics that can be observed at different length scales. At microscale, it is essential to understand the interaction of the gas bubbles, liquid drops and solid particles with the continuum fluid through tracking the motion of the individual discrete particles in space and time. With increasing length scale, interaction between the discrete particles may become significant resulting in local structural changes due to agglomeration/coalescence and breakage/break up processes of gas bubbles, liquid drops and solid particles that are prevalent at the mesoscale. At the device scale, the influence of the macroscale hydrodynamic behavior of the background fluid on the clusters of gas bubbles, liquid drops and solid particles results in the existence of large-scale flow structures encompassing the different individual phases within the multiphase flow.

Figure 1.1 Multiscale characteristics of multiphase flows. (For color version of this figure, the reader is referred to the online version of this book.)

As will be illustrated through some examples below, computational techniques can be employed to reveal details of peculiar flow physics that otherwise could not be visualized by experiments or to clarify particular accentuating mechanisms that are consistently being manifested in complex multiphase flows. Such an approach, based on the utilization of advanced numerical methods and models, usually contains very detailed information, producing an accurate realization of the fluid flow.

Fujita and Yamaguchi (2007) have investigated the self-organization of nanoparticles in a dense suspension medium. Here, the motion of nanoparticles, which are treated as rigid spheres, is solved by the linear and angular momentum equations based on Newton’s law in a Lagrangian framework. The soft-sphere model based on the discrete element method is adopted to resolve the solid contact forces between particles. Additional consideration of other forces acting on the nanoparticles includes the capillary force, electrostatic force, van der Waals force, Brownian random force and fluid force. The flow of solvent is solved by the Stokes equation in the Eulerian framework. This provides the influence of the fluid force acting on the nanoparticles. Based on a nanoparticle diameter of 50 nm (5 × 10−8 m), the numerical simulation reveals that locally distributed nanoparticles form chainlike clusters shortly after the start of the simulation at time t = 2.5 μs, which is mainly due to Brownian motion and the van der Waals attractive force exerted between nanoparticles close to each other. These clusters continue to further attract neighboring nanoparticles and they increase in size at time t = 5 μs. As time progresses, the chainlike structures aggregate with one another and form an organized network structure throughout the computational domain at time t = 10 μs, such as illustrated in Figure 1.2.

Figure 1.2 Self-organization process of nanoparticles in the dense suspension medium. After Fujita and Yamaguchi (2007).

In a similar investigation, Marshall (2009) has also treated the motion of aerosols through a Lagrangian scheme based on the discrete element method. Being of micron-sized particles (10−6 m), the Brownian random force is not considered. Nonetheless, the reduced gravity force is accounted for along with fluid forces comprising drag, lift, Magnus and added mass. The soft-sphere model based on the discrete element method is employed to resolve the solid interactions between aerosols. In order to account for the effect of adhesion, the van der Waals force is considered only within the flattened contact region. Numerical simulation is performed by examining the aggregation behavior of particles advected in a circular pipe flow with a parabolic laminar velocity profile such as exemplified in Figure 1.3. Assuming that the aerosols are being initially spaced within the channel and shortly after the start of the simulation, they begin to collide and form aggregates with the channel. These small aggregates begin colliding with each other to progressively form larger aggregates. On one hand, some aggregates near the walls become attached to the walls, forming fingerlike projections sticking out into the flow. On the other hand, some of the projecting aggregates break off due to the imposed shear, leaving a part attached to the wall and a part that returns to the flow. Other aggregates that are initially projected out into the flow subsequently bend via rolling to be attached to the wall at several different locations. As aggregates near the wall tumble due to the imposed shear, they capture other particles from the flow and transport them to the wall, such that most of the aerosols are eventually attached to the wall. Those aerosols that are contained in the aggregate layer lining the walls settle to a state with zero velocity, so that they become trapped at the wall.

Figure 1.3 Evolution of particle locations within the fluid flow, depicting the development of aggregates and adhesion of aggregates to the channel walls due to van der Waals forces, at nondimensional times tU/L = 0–10. After Marshall (2009).

Lu and Tryggvason (2008) have carried out direct numerical simulation of buoyant bubbles in turbulent flow. The immiscible phase boundary separating the fluids inside and outside the bubble is tracked through the so-called front tacking method, which considers explicit marker points following the fluid interface through space and time. The Navier–Stokes equation is solved for the entire computation domain with appropriate consideration of the jump condition, such as surface tension at the interface as a source term to the equation. Dynamics of freely evolving arrays of nearly spherical and deformable bubbles of size between 1 mm (10−3 m) and 2 mm (2 × 10−3 m) in a vertical channel are investigated. The void fraction profiles across the channel (shown in Figure 1.4) are fundamentally different for both systems. Bubble deformability, rather than size, is considered to be the dominant effect where large and small bubbles result in a different void fraction distribution. This is not entirely surprising as the lift force of a bubble, and therefore its lateral migration, is dependent on how deformed it is since bubble deformation can result in the reversal of the sign of the lift force. For strongly deformed bubbles, any lateral lift is relatively weak and the dispersion of the bubbles by the turbulent flow and interactions with each other overcomes any tendency of the bubbles to bunch together in the middle of the channel. For nearly spherical bubbles, the bubble distribution consists of a core where the mixture is in hydrostatic equilibrium and the flow is essentially homogeneous and a wall layer exists with a large number of bubbles sliding along the wall. Figure 1.5 shows the bubbles and isocontours of the vertical velocity. Most of the nearly spherical bubbles are found to flow near the walls, and the flow in the middle of the channel is relatively quiescent.

Figure 1.4 Average void fraction profiles across channel at steady state for nearly spherical and deformable bubbles. After Lu and Tryggvason (2008).

Figure 1.5 Bubbles and flow field in a turbulent vertical channel flow. Left figure - near spherical bubbles. Right figure - deformable bubbles. After Lu and Tryggvason (2008).

Quan et al. (2009) have recently demonstrated the capability of adopting a moving mesh interface tracking coupled with local mesh adaption to handle interface merging. Numerical simulations are performed on droplet pair collisions. Figure 1.6 illustrates the shape evolution of the off-center coalescence of two droplets with high surface tension coefficient. It can be seen that at the time when a bridge is formed between the two droplets (see droplet shapes c and d), the two ends continue to move in opposite directions due to the momentum, and the droplet is stretched (see droplet shapes of g and h). A ligament with two bulbous ends is formed (see sequence of droplet shapes of i to l); the two ends move toward the center due to the prevalence of high surface tension forces. The coalesced droplet eventually becomes a sphere. Figure 1.6 also depicts the shape evolution of the off-center coalescence of two droplets but with a smaller surface tension coefficient. In this particular case, the bridge region can be seen to move outward while the two ends continue to move in opposite directions. A stretched droplet is formed with two bulbous ends. With the ligament being continuously stretched due to the momentum, the bulbous ends become spherical, and a neck region is created near the right end. Then this end is pinched off. A necking is also created near the left end afterward, and then the left end is pinched off resulting in the formation of two end droplets. These two ends of the middle section contract due to the high surface tension forces at the ends, and a bulbous ligament is again created. More significantly, the middle section experiences break up that results in three satellite droplets being formed in the middle