Non-conservative pressure-based compressible formulation for multiphase flows with heat and mass transfer

Abstract

A pressure-based compressible multiphase flow solver has been developed based on non-conservative discretization of the mixture continuity equation. The formulation is an extension of the single phase incompressible pressure-correction approach, such that it can be applied to both two-phase flows using interface resolving methods and general n-phase ensemble-averaged mixture flows. The formulation is currently presented with the single pressure and single temperature assumption, but extension to multiple temperatures is straightforward. A robust treatment of phase change allows the method to model conditions with rapid phase change such as expansion through nozzles and valves. The method has been validated thoroughly using canonical single phase problems such as the shock tube, tank filling and sudden valve closure problems. Multiphase flow validation has been carried out for sound propagation in mixtures using the ensemble-averaged model and pressure wave transmission and reflection across an air-water interface, using the level set interface tracking method. The method has been used to study sound propagation in saturated steam-water systems under thermodynamic non-equilibrium, where the expected drastic reduction in the speed of sound is reproduced. Finally the method is applied to the problem of critical (choked) flow in a nozzle for a saturated steam-water system.