Numerical Simulation Of Multiphase Flow Research Articles

A Novel Framework for Integration of Random-Walk Particle-Tracking Simulation in Subsurface Multi-phase Flow Modeling

Coarse-scale models are generally preferred in the numerical simulation of multi-phase flow due to computational constraints. However, capturing the effects of fine-scale heterogeneity on flow and isolating the impacts of numerical (artificial) dispersion, which increases with scale, are not trivial. In this paper, a particle-tracking method is devised and integrated in a scale-up workflow to estimate the conditional probability distributions of multi-phase flow functions, which can be considered as inputs in coarse-scale simulations with existing commercial packages. First, a novel particle-tracking method is developed to solve the saturation transport equation. The transport calculation is coupled with a velocity update, following the implicit pressure, explicit saturation framework, to solve the governing equations of two-phase immiscible flow. Each phase particle is advanced in a deterministic convection step according to the phase velocity, as well as in a stochastic dispersion step based on the random Brownian motion. A kernel-based formulation is proposed for computation of fluid saturation in accordance with the phase particle distribution. A novel aspect is that this method employs the kernel approach to construct saturation from phase particle distribution, which is an important improvement to the conventional box method that necessitates a large number of particles per grid cell for consistent saturation interpolation. The model is validated against various analytical solutions. Finally, the validated model is integrated in a statistical scale-up procedure to calibrate effective, or “pseudo,” multi-phase flow functions (e.g., relative permeability functions). The proposed scale-up framework does not impose any length scale requirement regarding the distribution of sub-grid heterogeneities.

CFD simulations of fiber-fiber interaction in a hollow fiber membrane bundle: Fiber distance and position matters

This CFD study aims to simulate the impact of fiber distance and position on fiber-fiber interaction within a bundle. In order to display the filtration performance of fibers at different positions, a hollow fiber membrane filtration setup based on nine fibers arranged in a 3 × 3 square array was constructed. A CFD porous media model approach was employed using the liquid phase as the main phase. The numerical simulation of multiphase flow on the average velocity of each fiber is validated by the experimental results. The presence of “bundle resistance” and “permeate competition” among fibers was confirmed by the axial liquid velocity simulation. When fiber distance was less than the fiber diameter, the interaction between fibers became notable due to “permeate competition”. When fiber distance was equal to fiber diameter, the “permeate competition” effect disappeared, while the “bundle resistance” became dominant within the bundle. When the fiber distance was larger than the fiber diameter, both “permeate competition” and “bundle resistance” could be neglected. The variations of fiber flux at different positions along the fiber height also proved the distribution of axial liquid velocity and sludge density in the bundle. These results highlight the difference between fiber distance and position in the bundle that ensured the fouling deposition.

A cost‐effective curvature calculation approach for interfacial flows on unstructured meshes

SummaryWe present a simple and cost‐effective curvature calculation approach for simulations of interfacial flows on structured and unstructured grids. The interface is defined using volume fractions, and the interface curvature is obtained as a function of the gradients of volume fractions. The gradient computation is based on a recently proposed gradient recovery method that mimicks the least squares approach without the need to solve a system of equations and is quite easy to implement on arbitrary polygonal meshes. The resulting interface curvature is used in a continuum surface force formulation within the framework of a well‐balanced finite‐volume algorithm to simulate multiphase flows dominated by surface tension. We show that the proposed curvature calculation is at least as accurate as some of the existing approaches on unstructured meshes while being straightforward to implement on any mesh topology. Numerical investigations also show that spurious currents in stationary problems that are dependent on the curvature calculation methodology are also acceptably low using the proposed approach. Studies on capillary waves and rising bubbles in viscous flows lend credence to the ability of the proposed method as an inexpensive, robust, and reasonably accurate approach for curvature calculation and numerical simulation of multiphase flows.

An analytical interface reconstruction algorithm in the PLIC‐VOF method for 2D polygonal unstructured meshes

SummaryPiecewise linear interface calculation (PLIC) schemes have been extensively employed in the volume‐of‐fluid (VOF) method for interface capturing in numerical simulations of multiphase flows. Polygonal unstructured meshes are often adopted because of their geometric flexibility and superiority in gradient calculation. An analytical interface reconstruction algorithm in the PLIC‐VOF method for arbitrary convex polygonal cells has been proposed in this study. The line interface at a given orientation within a polygonal cell is located by an analytical technique. It has been tested successfully for four different geometric shapes that are common in polygonal meshes. The computational efficiency of the present algorithm has been compared with several published schemes in the literature. The proposed algorithm has been shown to yield higher accuracy with reduction in computational complexity. A numerical simulation of a dam‐breaking problem has been performed using the proposed analytical PLIC technique on polygonal meshes. The results are in good agreement with experimental data available in the literature, which serves as a demonstration of its performance in a real multiphase flow.

Direct Numerical Simulation of Flow on Pore-Scale Images Using the Phase-Field Method

SummaryAdvances in pore-scale imaging, increasing availability of computational resources, and developments in numerical algorithms have started rendering direct pore-scale numerical simulations of multiphase flow on pore structures feasible. In this paper, we describe a two-phase-flow simulator that solves mass- and momentum-balance equations valid at the pore scale (i.e., at scales where the Darcy velocity homogenization starts to break down). The simulator is one of the key components of a molecule-to-reservoir truly multiscale modeling work flow.A Helmholtz free-energy-driven, thermodynamically based diffuse-interface/phase-field method is used for the effective simulation of numerous advecting interfaces, while honoring the interfacial tension (IFT). The advective Cahn-Hilliard (CH) (mass-balance, energy dissipation) and Navier-Stokes (NS) (momentum-balance, incompressibility) equations are coupled to each other within the phase-field framework. Wettability on rock/fluid interfaces is accounted for by means of an energy-penalty-based wetting (contact-angle) boundary condition. Individual balance equations are discretized by use of a flexible discontinuous Galerkin (DG) method. The discretization of the mass-balance equation is semi-implicit in time using a convex/concave splitting of the energy term. The momentum-balance equation is split from the incompressibility constraint by a projection method and linearized with a Picard splitting. Mass- and momentum-balance equations are coupled to each other by means of operator splitting, and are solved sequentially.We discuss the mathematical model and its DG discretization, and briefly introduce nonlinear and linear solution strategies. Numerical-validation tests show optimal convergence rates for the DG discretization, indicating the correctness of the numerical scheme and its implementation. Physical-validation tests demonstrate the consistency of the phase distribution and velocity fields simulated within our framework. Finally, two-phase-flow simulations on two real pore-scale images demonstrate the usefulness of the pore-scale simulator. The direct pore-scale numerical-simulation methodology rigorously considers the flow physics by directly acting on pore-scale images of rocks without remeshing. The proposed method is accurate, numerically robust, and exhibits the potential for tackling realistic problems.

Transition point prediction in a multicomponent lattice Boltzmann model: Forcing scheme dependencies.

Pseudopotential-based lattice Boltzmann models are widely used for numerical simulations of multiphase flows. In the special case of multicomponent systems, the overall dynamics are characterized by the conservation equations for mass and momentum as well as an additional advection diffusion equation for each component. In the present study, we investigate how the latter is affected by the forcing scheme, i.e., by the way the underlying interparticle forces are incorporated into the lattice Boltzmann equation. By comparing two model formulations for pure multicomponent systems, namely the standard model [X. Shan and G. D. Doolen, J. Stat. Phys. 81, 379 (1995)JSTPBS0022-471510.1007/BF02179985] and the explicit forcing model [M. L. Porter et al., Phys.Rev. E 86, 036701 (2012)PLEEE81539-375510.1103/PhysRevE.86.036701], we reveal that the diffusion characteristics drastically change. We derive a generalized, potential function-dependent expression for the transition point from the miscible to the immiscible regime and demonstrate that it is shifted between the models. The theoretical predictions for both the transition point and the mutual diffusion coefficient are validated in simulations of static droplets and decaying sinusoidal concentration waves, respectively. To show the universality of our analysis, two common and one new potential function are investigated. As the shift in the diffusion characteristics directly affects the interfacial properties, we additionally show that phenomena related to the interfacial tension such as the modeling of contact angles are influenced as well.

A phase-field lattice Boltzmann model for simulating multiphase flows in porous media: Application and comparison to experiments of CO2 sequestration at pore scale

Abstract We implement a phase-field based lattice-Boltzmann (LB) method for numerical simulation of multiphase flows in heterogeneous porous media at pore scales with wettability effects. The present method can handle large density and viscosity ratios, pertinent to many practical problems. As a practical application, we study multiphase flow in a micromodel representative of CO2 invading a water-saturated porous medium at reservoir conditions, both numerically and experimentally. We focus on two flow cases with (i) a crossover from capillary fingering to viscous fingering at a relatively small capillary number, and (ii) viscous fingering at a relatively moderate capillary number. Qualitative and quantitative comparisons are made between numerical results and experimental data for temporal and spatial CO2 saturation profiles, and good agreement is found. In particular, a correlation analysis shows that any differences between simulations and results are comparable to intra-experimental differences from replicate experiments. A key conclusion of this work is that system behavior is highly sensitive to boundary conditions, particularly inlet and outlet ones. We finish with a discussion on small-scale flow features, such as the emergence of strong recirculation zones as well as flow in which the residual phase is trapped, including a close look at the detailed formation of a water cone. Overall, the proposed model yields useful information, such as the spatiotemporal evolution of the CO2 front and instantaneous velocity fields, which are valuable for understanding the mechanisms of CO2 infiltration at the pore scale.

Response of a Circular Cylinder Wake to Periodic Wave Excitations

Two-dimensional (2D) numerical simulations of multiphase flows past a circular cylinder close to free surface waves were performed to investigate an interaction of vortex formation around a cylinder with periodic waves by utilizing waves2Foam. The lock-on responses of lift coefficient at low frequencies were lower than those of the natural response due to the existence of “out-of-phase” between the fluctuations of lift coefficient by vortex formation and the vertical force fluctuations by wave motions. The resonant effect of an external excitation by the periodic waves on the lift coefficient fluctuations was not significant despite the occurrence of lock-on.

Algebraic multigrid preconditioners for two-phase flow in porous media with phase transitions

Multiphase flow is a critical process in a wide range of applications, including oil and gas recovery, carbon sequestration, and contaminant remediation. Numerical simulation of multiphase flow requires solving of a large, sparse linear system resulting from the discretization of the partial differential equations modeling the flow. In the case of multiphase multicomponent flow with miscible effect, this is a very challenging task. The problem becomes even more difficult if phase transitions are taken into account. A new approach to handle phase transitions is to formulate the system as a nonlinear complementarity problem (NCP). Unlike in the primary variable switching technique, the set of primary variables in this approach is fixed even when there is phase transition. Not only does this improve the robustness of the nonlinear solver, it opens up the possibility to use multigrid methods to solve the resulting linear system. The disadvantage of the complementarity approach, however, is that when a phase disappears, the linear system has the structure of a saddle point problem and becomes indefinite, and current algebraic multigrid (AMG) algorithms cannot be applied directly. In this study, we explore the effectiveness of a new multilevel strategy, based on the multigrid reduction technique, to deal with problems of this type. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the method through numerical results for the case of two-phase, two-component flow with phase appearance/disappearance. We also show that the strategy is efficient and scales optimally with problem size.

Numerical Simulation of Multiphase Flow in Nanoporous Organic Matter With Application to Coal and Gas Shale Systems

AbstractFluid flow in nanoscale organic pores is known to be affected by fluid transport mechanisms and properties within confined pore space. The flow of gas and water shows notably different characteristics compared with conventional continuum modeling approach. A pore network flow model is developed and implemented in this work. A 3‐D organic pore network model is constructed from 3‐D image that is reconstructed from 2‐D shale SEM image of organic‐rich sample. The 3‐D pore network model is assumed to be gas‐wet and to contain initially gas‐filled pores only, and the flow model is concerned with drainage process. Gas flow considers a full range of gas transport mechanisms, including viscous flow, Knudsen diffusion, surface diffusion, ad/desorption, and gas PVT and viscosity using a modified van der Waals' EoS and a correlation for natural gas, respectively. The influences of slip length, contact angle, and gas adsorption layer on water flow are considered. Surface tension considers the pore size and temperature effects. Invasion percolation is applied to calculate gas‐water relative permeability. The results indicate that the influences of pore pressure and temperature on water phase relative permeabilities are negligible while gas phase relative permeabilities are relatively larger in higher temperatures and lower pore pressures. Gas phase relative permeability increases while water phase relative permeability decreases with the shrinkage of pore size. This can be attributed to the fact that gas adsorption layer decreases the effective flow area of the water phase and surface diffusion capacity for adsorbed gas is enhanced in small pore size.

An ISPH scheme for numerical simulation of multiphase flows with complex interfaces and high density ratios

Multiphase problems with high density ratios and complex interfaces deal with numerical instabilities and require accurate considerations for capturing the multiphase interfaces. An Incompressible Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (ISPH) scheme is presented to simulate such problems. In order to keep the present scheme simple and stable, well-established formulations are used for discretizing the spatial derivatives and a repulsive force is applied at the multiphase interface between particles of different fluids to maintain the interface sharpness. Special considerations are included to overcome the difficulties to model severe physical discontinuities at the interface and surface tension effects are taken into account. Different particle shifting schemes are also tested for a range of problems. Several two phase flows are investigated and the presented scheme is validated against both analytical and numerical solutions. A detailed study is also carried out on the influence of the repulsive force in an ISPH scheme showing that this simple treatment efficiently enhances the interface capturing features. The comparisons indicate that the proposed scheme is robust and capable of simulating a wide range of multiphase problems with complex interfaces including low to high ratios for density and viscosity.

A Conservative Diffuse-interface Model-based Advection Equation for Numerical Simulation of Multiphase Flows

A Conservative Diffuse-interface Model-based Advection Equation for Numerical Simulation of Multiphase Flows

Stress balance for a viscous flow with a single rolling particle

One of the most important aspects in hydraulic engineering is to describe flows over mobile porous media in a continuum sense to derive models for sediment transport. This remains a challenging task due to the complex coupling of the particle and the fluid phase. Computational Fluid Dynamics can provide the data needed to understand the coupling of the two phases. To this end, we carry out grain-resolving Direct Numerical Simulations of multiphase flow. The particle phase is introduced by the Immersed Boundary Method and the particle-particle interaction is described by a sophisticated Discrete Element Method. We derive the stress budgets of the fluid and the particle phases separately through a rigorous analysis of the governing equations using the Double Averaging Methodology and the Coarse-Graining Method. As a next step, we perform a simple simulation of a heavy particle exposed to a Poiseuille flow rolling along a wall to understand the physical implications of the fluid-particle coupling. All terms of the stress balances can be computed in a straightforward manner allowing to close the budgets for the two phases separately. However, we encounter problems when attempting to combine the fluid-resolved local stresses with the coarse-grained particle stresses into a single balance for the fluid-particle mixture.

A free energy-based surface tension force model for simulation of multiphase flows by level-set method

In this paper, a free energy-based surface tension force (FESF) model is presented for accurately resolving the surface tension force in numerical simulation of multiphase flows by the level set method. By using the analytical form of order parameter along the normal direction to the interface in the phase-field method and the free energy principle, FESF model offers an explicit and analytical formulation for the surface tension force. The only variable in this formulation is the normal distance to the interface, which can be substituted by the distance function solved by the level set method. On one hand, as compared to conventional continuum surface force (CSF) model in the level set method, FESF model introduces no regularized delta function, due to which it suffers less from numerical diffusions and performs better in mass conservation. On the other hand, as compared to the phase field surface tension force (PFSF) model, the evaluation of surface tension force in FESF model is based on an analytical approach rather than numerical approximations of spatial derivatives. Therefore, better numerical stability and higher accuracy can be expected. Various numerical examples are tested to validate the robustness of the proposed FESF model. It turns out that FESF model performs better than CSF model and PFSF model in terms of accuracy, stability, convergence speed and mass conservation. It is also shown in numerical tests that FESF model can effectively simulate problems with high density/viscosity ratio, high Reynolds number and severe topological interfacial changes.

HFES: A Height Function Method with Explicit Input and Signed Output for High-Order Estimations of Curvature and unit Vectors of Planar Curves

The author proposes a height function (HF) method for estimating curvature and unit vectors of planar curves. The new method is named HFES since its signature consists of explicit input parameters (instead of implicit volume fractions) and signed output estimates. Due to this signature and its formal description, HFES has a number of appealing advantages. First, the convergence rate of HFES can be 4, 6, or a greater even integer. Second, local arcs can be rotated to further reduce leading truncation errors. Third, the sampling size of estimation is completely independent from the Eulerian grid size of the main flow. Fourth, signs of the signed output can be conveniently chosen by orientations of input Jordan curves, e.g., surface tension of a tracked material can be determined in a simple and worry-free manner. Last, HFES is applicable both to numerical simulation of multiphase flows and shape analysis in computer imaging. Furthermore, the author analyzes the effect of input perturbations upon output estimates, derives expressions of the best attainable accuracy afforded by a given input on uniform grids, and explains how to achieve this best accuracy with a concrete example. Results of numerical experiments with both exact and inexact input demonstrate that HFES can be much more accurate than previous HF methods. For the vortex-shear test of a circular disk, the eighth-order HFES coupled with the recent cubic iPAM method is millions of times more accurate than a fourth-order HF method coupled with volume-of-fluid methods! This drastic accuracy improvement is mainly due to the purely explicit spline representation of the curve and the rotation of local arcs.

Improving the convergence behaviour of a fixed‐point‐iteration solver for multiphase flow in porous media

SummaryA new method to admit large Courant numbers in the numerical simulation of multiphase flow is presented. The governing equations are discretized in time using an adaptive θ‐method. However, the use of implicit discretizations does not guarantee convergence of the nonlinear solver for large Courant numbers. In this work, a double‐fixed point iteration method with backtracking is presented, which improves both convergence and convergence rate. Moreover, acceleration techniques are presented to yield a more robust nonlinear solver with increased effective convergence rate. The new method reduces the computational effort by strengthening the coupling between saturation and velocity, obtaining an efficient backtracking parameter, using a modified version of Anderson's acceleration and adding vanishing artificial diffusion. © 2016 The Authors. International Journal for Numerical Methods in Fluids Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Direct Numerical Simulation of Multiphase Flows with Unstable Interfaces

This paper presents a numerical model that intends to simulate efficiently the surface instability that arise in multiphase flows, typically liquid-gas, both for laminar or turbulent regimes. The model is developed on the in-house computing platform TermoFluids, and operates the finite-volume, direct numerical simulation (DNS) of multiphase flows by means of a conservative level-set method for the interface-capturing. The mesh size is optimized by means of an adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) strategy, that allows the dynamic re-concentration of the mesh in the vicinity of the interfaces between fluids, in order to correctly represent the diverse structures (as ligaments and droplets) that may rise from unstable phenomena. In addition, special attention is given to the discretization of the various terms of the momentum equations, to ensure stability of the flow and correct representation of turbulent vortices. As shown, the method is capable of truthfully simulate the interface phenomena as the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability and the Plateau-Rayleigh instability, both in the case of 2-D and 3-D configurations. Therefore it is suitable for the simulation of complex phenomena such as simulation of air-blast atomization, with several important application in the field of automotive and aerospace engines. A prove is given by our preliminary study of the 3-D coaxial liquid-gas jet.

Rise of an argon bubble in liquid steel in the presence of a transverse magnetic field

The rise of gaseous bubbles in viscous liquids is a fundamental problem in fluid physics, and it is also a common phenomenon in many industrial applications such as materials processing, food processing, and fusion reactor cooling. In this work, the motion of a single argon gas bubble rising in quiescent liquid steel under an external magnetic field is studied numerically using a Volume-of-Fluid method. To mitigate spurious velocities normally generated during numerical simulation of multiphase flows with large density differences, an improved algorithm for surface tension modeling, originally proposed by Wang and Tong [“Deformation and oscillations of a single gas bubble rising in a narrow vertical tube,” Int. J. Therm. Sci. 47, 221–228 (2008)] is implemented, validated and used in the present computations. The governing equations are integrated by a second-order space and time accurate numerical scheme, and implemented on multiple Graphics Processing Units with high parallel efficiency. The motion and terminal velocities of the rising bubble under different magnetic fields are compared and a reduction in rise velocity is seen in cases with the magnetic field applied. The shape deformation and the path of the bubble are discussed. An elongation of the bubble along the field direction is seen, and the physics behind these phenomena is discussed. The wake structures behind the bubble are visualized and effects of the magnetic field on the wake structures are presented. A modified drag coefficient is obtained to include the additional resistance force caused by adding a transverse magnetic field.

A comparison between the surface compression method and an interface reconstruction method for the VOF approach

In direct numerical simulations of multiphase flows, based on the Volume of Fluid (VOF) approach, the advection of the volume fraction field is a crucial point. The choice of the discretisation scheme for the transport of the volume fraction is decisive for an accurate description of surface dynamics. In this paper we assess two numerical methods: a high order discretisation scheme, namely the surface compression scheme, and an interface reconstruction scheme based on a piecewise linear interface calculation (PLIC). We compare accuracy, convergence rate and computational cost of these methods with results from literature. The comparative study includes reference 2D and 3D advection test cases. Moreover, the advection algorithm is tested coupled to an incompressible Navier–Stokes solver and used to simulate a rising bubble in a liquid for different Eötvös and Reynolds numbers. We establish via the advection tests and through the study of rising bubbles that the PLIC method converges to second order while the compression method fails to converge systematically. The computational overhead of both methods is negligible compared to an incompressible flow solver to which it might be coupled.

A phase-field method for the direct simulation of two-phase flows in pore-scale media using a non-equilibrium wetting boundary condition

Advances in pore-scale imaging (e.g., μ-CT scanning), increasing availability of computational resources, and recent developments in numerical algorithms have started rendering direct pore-scale numerical simulations of multi-phase flow on pore structures feasible. Quasi-static methods, where the viscous and the capillary limit are iterated sequentially, fall short in rigorously capturing crucial flow phenomena at the pore scale. Direct simulation techniques are needed that account for the full coupling between capillary and viscous flow phenomena. Consequently, there is a strong demand for robust and effective numerical methods that can deliver high-accuracy, high-resolution solutions of pore-scale flow in a computationally efficient manner. Direct simulations of pore-scale flow on imaged volumes can yield important insights about physical phenomena taking place during multi-phase, multi-component displacements. Such simulations can be utilized for optimizing various enhanced oil recovery (EOR) schemes and permit the computation of effective properties for Darcy-scale multi-phase flows.