Numerical analysis of particle injection effect on gas-liquid two-phase flow in horizontal pipelines using coupled MPPIC-VOF method

Abstract

Pipeline transport of three-phase (gas, liquid, and solid particles) flows has become increasingly prevalent in various industrial applications. Due to complicated fluid phase interactions, experimental and numerical investigation of this type of flow can be very demanding. In this study, the coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian approach MPPIC-VOF is adopted, which is capable of capturing solid particle motion as well as fluid phase development simultaneously. Prior to three-phase flow simulation, two-phase air–water flow in a specific range of gas and liquid superficial velocities with slug and plug flow patterns is simulated. Then, polypropylene particles are injected as the solid phase into the air–water flow and the effects of particles on pressure drop, void fraction, and flow patterns are studied. The pressure drop and void fraction results are validated for both two-phase and three-phase flows by different correlations and experimental results. As a result of particle injection at the low concentration of 0.5%, void fraction increases by 13.7% and pressure drop changes on average by 18%, respectively. However, there was no significant change in the flow patterns.