Numerical investigation on flow and heat transfer of the rotating spherical particle in a supercritical water crossflow environment

Abstract

The supercritical water gasification reactor provides a green and efficient method for the utilization of organic resources such as coal and biomass. It is important to note that collision-induced particle rotation in the reactor will affect the flow and heat transfer characteristics between the particles and the fluid. At present, there is a lacking consideration of particle rotation in the supercritical water environment. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of dimensionless rotation rate (Ω∗) and particle Reynolds number (Rep) on drag coefficient (Cd), lift coefficient (Cl) and average Nusselt number (Nu) for the single particle in a supercritical water crossflow under two rotation modes, with rotation axes parallel and perpendicular to the jet direction. The flow field, temperature field, boundary layer, and surface pressure coefficient (Cp) were analyzed to interpret the variation of the particle dimensionless coefficients (Cd, Cl and Nu). It was found that the value of ∣Cp∣ on the particle surface rose at different locations for the two rotation modes, leading to an increase in the pressure drag and dominating the total drag force. However, the two rotation modes produced different deviating effects on the average Nusselt number. Ultimately, new correlation formulas of Cd, Cl and Nu for a rotating spherical particle in a supercritical water environment were proposed based on the results of numerical simulations, with a maximum deviation of 8.52%.