Polydisperse bubble flows: a study of the bubble cloud evolution by CFD methods

摘要

The evolution of a polydisperse bubble cloud is analyzed by means of computational fluid dynamics. Gravity-driven bubble flows in a column with a circular cross-section as well as a downward flow in a long vertical pipe are numerically investigated. A method employed in the simulations is based on the Euler-Euler description of the multiphase medium. An inhomogeneous multiple-size group (MUSIG) model is used to describe the bubble size distribution. The formulated approach provides detailed description of the bubble flow structure including variation of the bubble size distribution.