VLES turbulence model for an Eulerian–Lagrangian modeling concept for bubble plumes

Abstract

Traditional Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) approaches to turbulence modeling, such as the k-ϵ model, have some well-known shortcomings when modeling transient flow phenomena. To mitigate this, a filtered URANS model has been derived where turbulent structures larger than a given filter size (typically grid size) is captured by the flow equations and smaller structures are modeled according to a modified k-ϵ model. This modeling approach is also known as a VLES model (Very Large Eddy Scale model), and provides more details of the transient turbulence than the k-ϵ model at little extra computational cost.In this study a two-phase extension to the VLES model is described. A modeling concept for bubble plumes has been developed in which the bubbles are tracked as particles and the flow of liquid is solved by the Navier–Stokes equations in a traditional mesh based approach. The flow of bubbles and liquid is coupled in an Eulerian–Lagrangian model. Turbulent dispersion of the bubbles is treated by a random walk model. The random walk model depends on an estimation of the eddy life time. The eddy life time for the VLES model differs from a k-ϵ model, and its mathematical expression is derived.The model is applied to ocean plumes emanating from discharge of gas at the ocean floor. Validation with experiments and comparison with k-ϵ model are shown.