Numerical Investigation of Two-Phase Flow of Non-Newtonian Fluid Discharged from a Sauce Dispenser

摘要

Fluid dispensers are widely used in various food processing applications. The present work investigates a two-phase flow of sauce discharged from a dispenser. Preliminary simulations were conducted to study the effects of non-Newtonian properties on the resulting flow. It was found that the non-Newtonian properties of the sauce tends to distribute the flow more toward the mid-plane of the fluid field. Transient, liquid-air flow simulations were conducted to study the effects of surface tension and geometry of the dispenser on the liquid film in ambient air. The volume of fluid (VOF) method was used to track the interface between phases. Gravity was taken into account since it is comparable with the inertia force. It was found that the breakup time of the liquid film increases as the Weber number decreases and the breakup length of the liquid film increases as the Froude number increases.