Two fluid model for two-phase turbulent jets

Abstract

Eulerian two-fluid models are widely used in nuclear reactor safety and CFD. In these models turbulent diffusion of a dispersed phase must be formulated in terms of the fluctuating interfacial force and the Reynolds stresses. The interfacial force is obtained using the probability distribution function approach by Reeks (1992). This paper is the first application of this force to a case of engineering interest outside homogeneous turbulence. An Eulerian multidimensional two-fluid model for a cylindrical two-phase dispersed particle jet is proposed and compared with experimental data. The averaged conservation equations of mass and momentum are solved for each phase and the turbulent kinetic energy equation is solved for the continuous phase. The turbulent diffusion force and the Reynolds stresses are constituted within the context of the k- ε model of turbulence. A dissipation term has been added to the k- ε model for the turbulence modulation by the particles. Once the constitutive relations have been defined, the two-fluid model is implemented in a computational fluid dynamics code. It is shown that when the particles are very small the model is consistent with a convection-diffusion equation for particle transport where the diffusivity is defined according to Taylor's model (Taylor, G.I., 1921. Diffusion by continuous movements. Proc. London Math. Society, A20, pp. 196–211). The two-fluid model is also compared against two experimental data sets. Good agreement between the model and the data is obtained. The sensitivity of the results to various turbulent mechanisms is discussed.