Introduction to Multiphase Flows

14. 5 Release

Multiphase Flow Modeling

in ANSYS CFX
© 2013 ANSYS, Inc. 1-1 Release 14.5
 Welcome!

• Welcome to the ANSYS CFX Multiphase course!

• This training course covers the theory and practice of
multiphase flows as implemented in ANSYS CFX
• This course contains advanced material and is intended
primarily for existing users of ANSYS CFX.
• We will proceed using a mixture of lectures and practical
examples.

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 Course Materials
• The Training Manual you have is an exact copy of the slides.
• Workshop descriptions and instructions are included in the
Training Manual.
• Copies of the workshop files are available from the instructor.
• Several introductory and advanced training courses are available
on specific topics. See the training course schedule on the ANSYS
homepage http://www.ansys.com/ under “Training Services”

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 Outline
• Multiphase Flow Overview
• Basic definitions and concepts
• Phenomenon to be modeled
• Modeling Approaches

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 Multiphase Flow
Overview

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 What is Multiphase Flow?
• Phase: Thermodynamics defines phase as a chemically and physically
uniform quantity of matter that can be separated mechanically from a
non homogeneous mixture. It may consist of a single substance or a
mixture of substance.

Gas Liquid Solid

• Multiphase Flow is flow involving more than one phase, mixed

macroscopically

• Examples
• Water droplets in air , Air bubbles in oil, Sand particles in water

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 Phase Combinations in Multiphase Flows
Gas/Liquid Gas/Solid
Bubble
Column
FCC

Gas/Liquid/Solid Liquid/Liquid Liquid/Solid

Trickle Bed
Reactor

LLE Column Slurry

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 Multiphase Flow in Nature

Storm Volcano

Rain and snow fall

Aeration in Aquarium
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 Multiphase vs Multispecies
Multiphase flows have clear and distinction macro level interface between
different phases while multispecies flow has mixing on the molecular
level. There is no macro level interface between different species.

Water + Oil = Multiphase Water + Alcohol = Multispecies

(Distinct Interface) (Molecular Mixing, No Interface)

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 Classifying Multiphase Flows
• Phase morphology :
• Disperse phase: occupies disconnected regions of space
• Continuous phase: connected in space

• Types of systems:
• Dispersed system : Disperse-Continuous flows
• Separated system :Continuous-Continuous flows

Dispersed system Separated system

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 Dispersed System (Dispersed – Continuous Flows)
• One phase exists as particles, droplets, or bubbles
• Examples
– Rain: air + water, droplet flow
– Soft drinks: Liquid + bubbles, bubbly flow
– Slurry: Sand + water, particulate flow
– Immiscible liquid droplets: Oil in water, droplet flow
• High density ratios are possible

Spray Bubbly flow Slurry flow

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 Examples of Multiphase Flows

• Horizontal Bubble Reactor (Bubbly Flow)

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 Examples of Multiphase Flows

• Cavitation (Phase Change)

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 Examples of Multiphase Flows
• Injection and Breakup of Liquid Droplets from a Nozzle

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 Separated System (Continuous - Continuous Flows)

Free surface flows are the most common examples Archimedes Screw
• Mold filling
• Dam break
• Gas tank filling or sloshing
• Open channel flows
Shape of the interface is of interest

Channel flows Sloshing Mold Filling

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 Examples of Multiphase Flows
• Free Surface Flow (Dam Break)

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 Multiphase Applications

• Chemical and Process Industry • Oil and Gas

– Gas cleaning – Oil wells
– Fluidized bed reactors – Pipelines
– Bubble columns • Environment
– Polymer production – Fog
– Mixers – Rain
– Dryers – Erosion
• Power Generation – Emission
– Droplet combustion • Biomedical
– Coal combustion – Blood flows
– Condensation & boiling – Eyes
– Fuel cells – Lungs
– Cavitation
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 Multiphase Gas Liquid Flow Regimes in
Pipes

Gas phase momentum flux

Vertical flow regimes Horizontal flow regimes Liquid phase momentum flux

Taitel Dukler map for co-

current horizontal flow

The regime depends on the vapor and liquid flow rates, upstream geometry

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 Different Regime Applications

– Bubbly flow – Absorbers, aeration, pumps,

Gas/Liquid cavitation, evaporators, flotation, scrubbers
Liquid/Liquid – Droplet flow – Absorbers, atomizers, combustors,
cryogenic pumping, dryers, evaporation
– Slug flow – Slug catcher
Slug Flow Bubbly, Droplet, or
– Stratified / free-surface flow – sloshing in Particle-Laden Flow
offshore separators, container filling, centrifuges

– Particle-laden flow – Cyclone separators, air

Gas / Solid classifiers, dust collectors, dust-laden
environmental flow Stratified / Free- Pneumatic Transport,
– Fluidized beds – Fluidized bed reactors, circulating Surface Flow Hydrotransport, or Slurry Flow

fluidized bed reactors

– Slurry flow – slurry transport, mineral processing

Liquid / Solid – Sedimentation – mineral processing, solids
suspension
Sedimentation Fluidized Bed

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 Basic definitions and
concepts

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 Phase Volume Fraction
• The volume fraction of phase α, denoted by rα , represents the fraction of the
region occupied by phase α.
0 ≤ 𝑟𝛼 ≤ 1

• The sum of volume fractions of different phases is unity (Volume Conservation

equation):
𝑟𝛼 = 1

• In CFD, the volume fraction rα is defined as the volume of phase α relative to

cell volume. 0 < rα < 1
rα = 0

rα = 1

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 Volume and Particulate Loading

• Volume loading – dilute or dense

 Refers to the volume fraction of secondary phase(s)

Volume of the secondary phase in a cell/domain

Volume loading 
Volume of the cell/domain

• Particulate loading
 ratio of secondary and primary Vprimary
phase inertias
Vsecondary
rsecondary  secondary

rprimary  primary
Vcell
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 Phase Velocity
• The average velocity in a pipe for a single-phase flow in terms of measureable
quantities is defined as
m
u
A
• In the two-phase flows, neither phase occupies the entire cross section and
the velocity of each phase is given by:
α
m β
m
uα  and u β 
ραAα ρβ Aβ
mα mβ
uα  and u β  , where rα  rβ  1
rα ρ α A rβ ρ β A

• The superficial velocity of phase is the hypothetical fluid velocity calculated

as if the given phase was the only one flowing in a given cross sectional area
us α = rα uα
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 Particle Relaxation Time
• The particle relaxation time (τp) is a measure of how fast particle can come to
speed of fluid if accelerated by fluid flowing past it


mp
dv p
dt
 
 3D v q  v p 
dv 18 q
 u  v  
1
u  v 
dt  p d p
2
p
 p D2
p  Example:  p D2
18 p 
18
v  u1  exp  t  p 
Water droplet in standard air:
Diameter = 100 micron

τp 
= 100 ms

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 Stokes Number

particle response time p

St p  
time characteri stic of flow  f

– Stp <<1: The particles and fluid will be in near

equilibrium i.e. particles will follow fluid
streamlines

– Stp >>1: The Particles will be unaffected by the

fluid i.e. particle will continue along its
trajectory

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 Mixture Relations
• The mixture relations are used where the slip velocity (defined as relative
velocity between the two phases) is zero.

• The mixture density is given by:

ρm = rα ρα
α
• The mixture (average) velocity of mixture of
Pneumatic Transport of
N phases is defined as:
sand particles
α rα ρα uα (low stoke number problem)
um =
ρm

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 Phenomena to be
Modeled

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 Multiphase Flows
• When simulating multiphase flows, a number of physical phenomena
may be important, including:
– Buoyancy
– Interphase momentum transfer
– Interphase exchange of mass
– Dispersed phase particle-particle interactions
– Breakup and/or coalescence of dispersed phases
– Surface tension
– Modeling interfacial area

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 Buoyancy
• For multiphase flow particularly for gas-solid and gas-liquid flows, the
density of the different phases can differ by a factor of 1000. For this
reason, buoyancy is always important in multiphase flows.

• For buoyancy calculations, a source term is added to the momentum

equations as follows:

S = (refg (ref = buoyancy reference density, g = gravity vector)

• Pressure field : p’ = p - ref.g.(r-rref) (rref = reference location )

where p’ (modified pressure) is the pressure field minus hydrostatic
head due to ref

• For flow containing continuous phase and dispersed phase, set ref to
that of continuous phase; while for free surface problems, set ref to
the density of the light fluid

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 Interphase momentum transfer
• Interphase momentum transfer, Mαβ , occurs due to interfacial forces acting on
each phase α, due to interaction with another phase β.
• The total force on phase α due to interaction with other phases is denoted Mα ,
and is given by:
𝑴𝜶 = 𝜷≠𝜶 𝑴𝜶𝜷

• The interfacial forces between two phases are equal and opposite, so the net
interfacial forces sum to zero
𝑴𝜶𝜷 = −𝑴𝜷𝜶 ⇒ 𝜶 𝑴𝜶 =𝟎
• The total interfacial force acting between two phases may arise from several
independent physical effects:
𝑀𝛼𝛽 = 𝑀𝛼𝛽 𝐷 + 𝑀𝛼𝛽 𝐿 + 𝑀𝛼𝛽 𝐿𝑈𝐵 + 𝑀𝛼𝛽 𝑉𝑀 + 𝑀𝛼𝛽 𝑇𝐷 + 𝑀𝑆

where D : Interface drag force, L : Lift force, LUB : Wall lubrication force
VM : Virtual mass, TD : Turbulence dispersion force, S : solid pressure force

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 Interphase Drag
• Consider gas bubbles rising through a liquid such as you might see in a
bubble column or a glass of soda:

• The bubbles rise through the liquid. This

difference in velocities causes interphase
drag or transfer of momentum between
the phases:
– The bubbles are slowed by the liquid.
– The liquid is accelerated by the bubbles

• Expressions for the interphase drag are needed in order to solve the
momentum equations for the two phases.

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 Drag Coefficient
• For a single particle, the drag force can be related to the relative velocity
between the fluid and the particle via a drag coefficient CD:
1 d p2
FD  CD f Ap U r U r U r  Uf  U p Ap 
2 4
•In general, the drag coefficient depends (at least) upon the particle
Reynolds number:

f U r d p
Re p 
f
•The exact form of this dependence depends upon the morphology of the
phases and the nature of the flow. Most often, empirical relationships
for CD are invoked (Drag Laws).

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 Interphase Mass Transfer

Exchange of mass between phases can occur due to a

change in the state of agglomeration of one of the phases
driven by thermal effects or by local pressure effects, i.e.
• Boiling
• Melting
• Freezing
• Sublimation
• Condensation
• Evaporation
• Cavitation
• Flashing

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 Examples of Phase change
Cavitation in propeller shaft

Hydrofoil cavitation

Dropwise condensation

Boling
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 Surface Tension
• An attractive force at the free surface interface,
characterized by a surface tension coefficient
which is unique for each fluid pair

F
F σ 
L

• Normal component Ring Tensiometer to

– Smooths regions of high curvature measure surface tension

– induces pressure rise within droplet: Dp  sk

• Tangential component
– moves fluid along interface toward region of high σ
– often called Marangoni effect (σ decreases with temperature)
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 Particle-Particle Interactions
• At low volume loading (rβ < 10%),
• The probability for dilute dispersed phases to interact with each other is
much lower than are interactions with the continuous phase.
• Under these conditions, particle-particle interactions may be neglected
and single particle/droplet/bubble correlations or theory may be applied

• As the volume loading increases, particle-particle interactions become

significant and dilute system approximations may no longer be valid

Collisions
between
particles

Dilute phase Dense phase

flow flow

Concentration
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 Breakup and Coalescence
• Fluid droplets and bubbles can deform in response
to fluid forces and collisions. This deformation can
result in breakup into smaller particles or coalescence
into larger particles.

• Examples include:
o Atomizer : Breakup of liquid droplets in a nozzle
due to high shear
o Bubble column: Coalescence & Breakup up of gas
bubbles in turbulent flow field

• While modeling breakup and coalescence, the

bubble diameter should be smaller than the
resolution of the grid.

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 Interfacial Area Density
• The interfacial area density, defined as the interfacial area per unit volume, is an
important parameter as it controls the area for interphase exchange of momentum,
energy, mass, and species.
• For a dispersed phase (β) present in continuous phase (α) at volume fraction rβ the
interfacial density (𝐴𝛼𝛽 ):
– Sphere (particle) model:
6𝑟𝛽
𝐴𝛼𝛽 =
𝑑𝛽
dβ is mean diameter of phase β
𝑟𝛼 𝑟𝛽
– Mixture model: 𝐴𝛼𝛽 =
𝑑𝛼𝛽
dαβ is an interfacial length scale

– Free surface flow model:

𝐴𝛼𝛽 = 𝐶|𝛻𝑟𝛽 |
C ≈ 1 for laminar flow

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