Numerical Simulation of the Turbulent Upward Flow of a Gas-Liquid Bubble Mixture in a Vertical Pipe: Comparison with Experimental Data

Abstract

The results of numerical simulation of the structure of a two-phase flow of a gas–liquid bubble mixture in a vertical ascending flow in a pipe are presented. The mathematical model is based on the use of the Eulerian description of the mass and momentum conservation for the liquid and gas phases, recorded within the framework of the theory of interacting continua. To describe the bubble-size distribution, the equations of particle-number conservation for individual groups of bubbles with different constant sizes are used for each fraction, taking the processes of breakage and coalescence into account. Comparison of the results of numerical simulation with experimental data has shown that the proposed approach enables the simulation of bubble turbulent polydisperse flows in a wide range of gas concentrations.