Numerical analysis of the interphase forces in bubble columns using euler‐euler modelling framework

Abstract

In the context of modelling the gas‐liquid multiphase flow in bubble columns, interface forces, such as drag, lift, and virtual mass forces, are of fundamental importance with regard to the accurate representation of physical phenomena. The approach used in this study was the Eulerian‐Eulerian modelling of turbulence in the continuous phase using the standard k‐ϵ model. Different models for the drag coefficient (CD) found in the literature were tested to obtain the best representation of the experimental data available in the literature. The relevance of the lift and virtual mass forces was also studied. The results show that the inclusion of lift contributes significantly to improving the representation of the experimental data when used in conjunction with the drag force. The inclusion of the virtual mass force did not prove to be relevant.