A fully coupled quadrature-based moment method for dilute to moderately dilute fluid–particle flows

Abstract

A third-order quadrature-based moment method for simulating dilute and moderately dilute fluid–particle flows has been implemented with full coupling in a computational fluid dynamics code. The solution algorithm for the particle phase uses a kinetic-based finite-volume technique to solve the velocity moment equations derived from kinetic theory. The procedure to couple the particle-phase volume-fraction and momentum equations with the Eulerian solver for the fluid phase is explained in detail. As an example application, simulations of a particle-laden vertical channel flow at fluid-phase Reynolds number 1379 and particle Stokes numbers 0.061 and 0.61 were carried out. The fluid and particle velocities, particle-phase volume fraction and granular temperature were observed to reach a steady state in the case of Stokes number 0.061, while instabilities that led to the formation of structures and initiated the particle segregation process were observed in the case with the higher Stokes number. These results are validated against results from a classical two-fluid model derived from the kinetic theory of granular flows in the small Knudsen number limit, and Euler–Lagrange simulations of the same flow.