Direct numerical simulation of a particle-laden mixing layer with a chemical reaction

A direct numerical simulation (DNS) is applied to a particle-laden turbulent mixing layer with a chemical reaction, and the effects of particles on turbulence and chemical species’ diffusion and reaction in both zero and finite gravity cases are investigated. Unreactive particles, whose response time, τ_P, is smaller than the Kolmogorov time scale, τ_K [τ_P/τ_K = O(10⁻¹)], are uniformly injected into the high-speed side of the mixing layer. Two reactive chemical species are separately introduced through different sides. The results show that although laden particles generally depress turbulent intensities, they begin to enhance turbulent intensities downstream as the particle size decreases provided that the inlet particle volume fraction is fixed. This is because that the small particles with small particle response time easily accumulate at the circumference of coherent vortices and act to suppress the growth of primitive small-scale coherent vortices upstream but enhance that of relatively developing large-scale ones downstream. Also, since the small-scale turbulence, which promotes the chemical reaction, is suppressed by the laden particles in the entire region, chemical product decreases overall. Furthermore, the presence of finite gravity on the particles acts to depress the turbulent intensities, but its effects on chemical species’ diffusion and reaction are quite small.     

Agglomeration of inertial particles in a random rotating symmetric straining flow

This paper is concerned with the development and validation of a simple Lagrangian model for particle agglomeration in a turbulent flow involving the collision of particles in a sequence of correlated straining and vortical structures which simulate the Kolmogorov small scales of motion of the turbulence responsible for particle pair dispersion and collision. In this particular study we consider the collision rate of monodisperse spherical particles in a symmetric (pure) straining flow which is randomly rotated to create an isotropic flow. The model is similar to the classical model of Saffman and Turner (S&T) (1956) for the collision (agglomeration) of tracer particles suspended in a turbulent flow. However unlike S&T, the straining flow is not frozen in time persisting only for timescales ∼Kolmogorov timescale. Furthermore, we consider the collision of inertial particles as well as tracer particles, and study their behavior not only at the collision boundary but also in its vicinity. In the simulation, particles are injected continuously at the boundaries of the straining flow, the size of the straining region being typical of the Kolmogorov length scale η_K of the turbulence. For steady state conditions, we calculate the flux of particles colliding with a test particle at the centre of the straining flow and consider its dependence on the inertia of the colliding particles (characterized by the particle Stokes number, St). The model replicates the segregation and accumulation observed in DNS and in particular the maximum segregation for St ∼ 1 (where St is the ratio of the particle response time to the Kolmogorov timescale). We also calculate the contributions of the various turbulent forces in the momentum balance equation for satellite particles and show for instance that for small Stokes number, there is a balance between turbulent diffusion and turbophoresis (gradient of kinetic stresses) which in turn is responsible for the build-up of concentration at the collision boundary. As found in previous studies, for the case of inertialess tracer particles, the collision rate turns out to be significantly smaller than the S&T prediction due to a lowering of the concentration at the collision boundary compared to the fully mixed value. The increase in collision rate for St ∼ 0.5 is shown to be a combination of particle segregation (build-up of concentration near the collision boundary) and the decorrelation of the relative velocity between the local fluid and a colliding particle. The difference from the S&T value for the agglomeration kernel is shown to be a consequence of the choice of perfectly absorbing boundary conditions at collision and the influence of the time scale of the turbulence (eddy lifetime). We draw the analogy between turbulent agglomeration and particle deposition in a fully developed turbulent boundary layer.     

A model for tracking inertial particles in a lattice Boltzmann turbulent flow simulation

A computationally inexpensive model for tracking inertial particles through a turbulent flow is presented and applied to the turbulent flow through a square duct having a friction Reynolds number of Re_τ = 300. Prior to introducing particles into the model, the flow is simulated using a lattice Boltzmann computation, which is allowed to evolve until a steady state turbulent flow is achieved. A snapshot of the flow is then stored, and the trajectories of particles are computed through the flow domain under the influence of this static probability field. Although the flow is not computationally evolving during the particle tracking simulation, the local velocity is obtained stochastically from the local probability function, thus allowing the dynamics of the turbulent flow to be resolved from the point of view of the suspended particles. Particle inertia is modeled by using a relaxation parameter based on the particle Stokes number that allows for a particle velocity history to be incorporated during each time step. Wall deposition rates and deposition patterns are obtained and exhibit a high level of agreement with previously obtained DNS computational results and experimental results for a wide range of particle inertia. These results suggest that accurate particle tracking through complex turbulent flows may be feasible given a suitable probability field, such as one obtained from a lattice Boltzmann simulation. This in turn presents a new paradigm for the rapid acquisition of particle transport statistics without the need for concurrent computations of fluid flow evolution.     

Numerical study of particle deposition in a turbulent channel flow with transverse roughness elements on one wall

A numerical study is presented for the effect of wall roughness on the deposition of solid spherical particles in a fully developed turbulent channel flow based on large eddy simulation combined with a Lagrangian particle-tracking scheme. The interest is focused on particles with response times in wall units in the range of 2.5 ≤ τ_p⁺ ≤ 600 depositing onto a vertical rough surface consisting of two-dimensional transverse square bars separated by a rectangular cavity. Predictions of particle deposition rates are obtained for several values of the cavity width to roughness element height ratio and particle response time. It is shown that the accumulation of particles in the near wall region and their preferential concentration in flow areas of low streamwise fluid velocity that occur in turbulent flows at flat channels are significantly affected by the roughness elements. Particle deposition onto the rough wall is considerably increased, exhibiting a subtle dependence on the particle inertia and the spacing between the bars. The observed augmentation of deposition coefficient can be attributed to the flow modifications induced by the roughness elements and to the inertial impaction of particles onto the frontal deposition area of the protruding square bars.     

Turbulent particle dispersion in arbitrary wall-bounded geometries: A coupled CFD-Langevin-equation based approach

A Lagrangian continuous random walk (CRW) model is developed to predict turbulent particle dispersion in arbitrary wall-bounded flows with prevailing anisotropic, inhomogeneous turbulence. The particle tracking model uses 3D mean flow data obtained from the Fluent CFD code, as well as Eulerian statistics of instantaneous quantities computed from DNS databases. The turbulent fluid velocities at the current time step are related to those of the previous time step through a Markov chain based on the normalized Langevin equation which takes into account turbulence inhomogeneities. The model includes a drift velocity correction that considerably reduces unphysical features common in random walk models. It is shown that the model satisfies the well-mixed criterion such that tracer particles retain approximately uniform concentrations when introduced uniformly in the domain, while their deposition velocity is vanishingly small, as it should be. To handle arbitrary geometries, it is assumed that the velocity rms values in the boundary layer can locally be approximated by the DNS data of fully developed channel flows. Benchmarks of the model are performed against particle deposition data in turbulent pipe flows, 90° bends, as well as more complex 3D flows inside a mouth-throat geometry. Good agreement with the data is obtained across the range of particle inertia.     

Effect of thermophoresis and other parameters on the particle deposition on a tilted surface

In this study a modified version of v2-f turbulence model (φ-α), is applied to simulate a non-isothermal air-flow. The φ-α model and a two-phase Eulerian approach complement each other to predict the rate of particle deposition on a tilted surface. The φ-α model can accurately calculate the normal fluctuations, which mainly represent the non-isotropic nature of turbulence regime near the wall. The Eulerian model was modified considering the most important mechanism in the particle deposition rate when compared to the experimental data. The model performance is examined by comparing the rate of particle deposition on a vertical surface with the experimental data in a turbulent channel flow available in the literature. The effects of lift force, turbophoretic force, thermophoreric force, electrostatic force, gravitational force and Brownian/turbulent diffusion were examined on the particle deposition rate. The results show that, using the φ-α model predicts the rate of deposition with reasonable accuracy. The results of modified particle model are in good agreement with the experimental data. This study highlights the paramount effect of thermophoretic force on the particle deposition rate and clearly shows that when the temperature difference exceeds a certain limit, the electrostatic force has insignificant effect on the particle deposition rate. Furthermore, it is indicated that even at small temperature differences, the effect of tilt angle on the particle deposition rate for intermediate-size particles is negligible.     

An experimental and theoretical study of particle deposition due to thermophoresis and turbulence in an annular flow

The paper describes an experimental and theoretical study of the deposition of small particles from a turbulent annular-flow with cross-stream temperature variation, focusing on the effects of thermophoresis. Various expressions for the thermophoretic force on a spherical particle are critically discussed. The well-known composite formula of Talbot et al. (1980) does not include the ‘second mechanism of thermophoresis’ and it is concluded that the more recent theoretical approach of Beresnev and Chernyak (1995) is probably more reliable. New experimental measurements of particle deposition from a turbulent flow with cross-stream temperature gradients are then presented. The measurement technique is similar to the method of Liu and Agarwal (1974) but in the test section the aerosol flows vertically downwards in an annular gap between two concentric pipes. By heating the outer pipe and cooling the inner it is possible to establish a substantial, near-constant temperature difference between the two walls and hence a thermophoretic force which varies only with radius. Numerical calculations provide a comparison of theory with experiment. The theory is based on the turbulent deposition models of Young and Leeming (1997) and Slater et al. (2003) modified to include thermophoresis and the annular geometry. The theory of Beresnev and Chernyak gives good agreement with the experimental measurements.     

Influence of gravity and lift on particle velocity statistics and transfer rates in turbulent vertical channel flow

The present study reports detailed statistics for velocity and transfer rates of heavy particles dispersed in turbulent boundary layers. Statistics have been extracted from a homogeneous source of data covering a large target parameter space and are used here to analyze the effects of gravity and lift on particle dispersion and deposition in a systematic way. Datasets were obtained performing Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) of particle-laden turbulent upward/downward flow in a vertical channel. Six values for the particle timescale (the particle Stokes number, St) ranging three orders of magnitude were considered to analyze the deposition process as the controlling mechanism was shifting from turbulent diffusion to inertia-moderated crossing trajectories. For the particle timescales examined, gravity and lift do not influence the qualitative behavior of particles even though velocity profiles and deposition coefficients are modified in a non-monotonic fashion, reaching an optimum for St ? 15. Physical mechanisms for the different behavior are discussed. Raw data and statistics obtained from the present DNS are made available at http://cfd.cineca.it (mirror site: http://158.110.32.35/download/database) and can be used to test simple models and closure equations for multiphase RANS and Large Eddy simulations.     

Dispersion of particles in wall-bounded particle-laden turbulent flows with high wall permeability

A series of numerical simulations were performed to investigate the distribution and deposition properties of particles in turbulent flows bounded by permeable walls using the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) with a Lagrangian trajectory approach. The wall permeation speeds were taken from 10⁻⁴ to 10⁻² of the bulk velocity. The directions of the permeation speed were the same at both walls, and they were inward on one wall but outward on the other wall to reserve the fluid mass. Particles with Stokes number (respecting viscous time scale) around 0.1, 1 and 10 were released in the fully developed turbulent channel flow. The particle–particle interaction and the retroaction from particles to the fluid were neglected. The fluid-phase turbulence statistical properties and particle's transport characteristics by vortexes were then analyzed in details. If the wall permeation exists, the turbulence intensities will be depressed close to the outward permeable wall but increased near the inward permeable wall. Not influenced by the wall permeation, the suspended particles with St⁺ ∼O(1) tend to accumulate in the less vortical zones away from the wall, while those particles in the flow regions near the outward permeable wall will distribute disregarding of the vorticity. The turbulence structures near the outward permeable wall are found to exert promotional effects on the particle deposition rate, but such effects are different for particles with various Stokes number. A distribution tendency of streamwise streaks for the deposited particles is also found on the wall imposed by the high outward permeation speed and the clustering deposition pattern is more obvious with increasing particle Stokes number.     

Effect of Particle Clusters on Carrier Flow Turbulence: A Direct Numerical Simulation Study

Experiments indicate that particle clusters that form in fluidized–bed risers can enhance gas-phase velocity fluctuations. Direct numerical simulations (DNS) of turbulent flow past uniform and clustered configurations of fixed particle assemblies at the same solid volume fraction are performed to gain insight into particle clustering effects on gas-phase turbulence, and to guide model development. The DNS approach is based on a discrete-time, direct-forcing immersed boundary method (IBM) that imposes no-slip and no-penetration boundary conditions on each particle’s surface. Results are reported for mean flow Reynolds number Re _p ?=?50 and the ratio of the particle diameter d _p to Kolmogorov scale is 5.5. The DNS confirm experimental observations that the clustered configurations enhance the level of fluid-phase turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) more than the uniform configurations, and this increase is found to arise from a lower dissipation rate in the clustered particle configuration. The simulations also reveal that the particle-fluid interaction results in significantly anisotropic fluid-phase turbulence, the source of which is traced to the anisotropic nature of the interphase TKE transfer and dissipation tensors. This study indicates that when particles are larger than the Kolmogorov scale (d _p ?>?η), modeling the fluid-phase TKE alone may not be adequate to capture the underlying physics in multiphase turbulence because the Reynolds stress is anisotropic. It also shows that multiphase turbulence models should consider the effect of particle clustering in the dissipation model.     

Effect of near-wall turbulence enhancement on the mechanisms of particle deposition

The modification of deposition mechanisms of small particles in wall turbulence due to enhanced near-wall fluctuations is presented. The direct numerical simulation database of turbulent air flow over a water surface populated by gravity-capillary waves of small wave slope was used to mimic the enhancement in fluctuation intensity. Lagrangian tracking of particles is performed under the assumption of one-way coupling between the particles and the flow. Two sets of particles have been considered with inertial response times of 5 and 15, respectively, normalized using the friction velocity at the air–water interface and the kinematic viscosity of air. Compared to wall-bounded flow, the particle deposition rates on the interface were found to be considerably higher; specifically for the low-inertia particles, an eightfold increase was observed. The deposition rate for particles of higher inertia increased by only 60%. The correlation characterizing particle deposition rates for wall-bounded flows, where the deposition rate is proportional to the square of the particle response time, was found to be invalid for the flow with enhanced near-wall turbulence. Comparison with experimental results on particle deposition onto rough walls showed better correlation. Depositing particles were divided into free-flight and diffusional deposition populations. Since the primary effect of the interfacial waves is to increase the turbulence intensity in the near-interface region with high particle concentration, a remarkable increase in diffusional deposition is observed. As in wall-bounded flows, diffusional deposition is seen to be the dominant mechanism of deposition. The free-flight mechanism, where particles acquire velocities high enough to travel directly to the interface, remains unaffected by enhanced near-wall velocity fluctuations.     

Stochastic modeling of particle diffusion in a turbulent boundary layer

Several Continuous Random Walk (CRW) models were constructed to predict turbulent particle diffusion based on Eulerian statistics that can be obtained with Reynolds-Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) solutions. The test conditions included a wide range of particle inertias (Stokes numbers) with a near-wall injection (y⁺ = 4) in a turbulent boundary layer that is strongly anisotropic and inhomogeneous. To assess the performance of the models, the CRW results were compared to particle diffusion statistics gathered from a Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS). In particular, comparisons were made with transverse concentration profiles, root-mean-square of particle trajectory coordinates, and mean transverse particle velocity away from the wall.The results showed that accurate simulation required a modified (non-dimensionalized) Markov chain to handle the large gradients in turbulence near the wall as shown by simulations with fluid-tracer particles. For finite-inertia particles, an incremental drift correction for the Markov chain developed herein to account for Stokes number effects was critical to avoiding non-physical particle collection in low-turbulence regions. In both cases, inclusion of anisotropy in the turbulence model was found to be important, but the influence of off-diagonal terms was found to be weak. The results were generally good, especially for long-time and large inertia particles.     

Effect of particles on turbulent thermal field of channel flow with different Prandtl numbers

The direct numerical simulation(DNS) of heat transfer in a fully developed non-isothermal particle-laden turbulent channel flow is performed.The focus of this paper is on the modulation of the particles on turbulent thermal statistics in the particle-laden flow with three Prandtl numbers(P r = 0.71,1.5,and 3.0) and a shear Reynolds number(Reτ = 180).Some typical thermal statistics,including normalized mean temperature and their fluctuations,turbulent heat fluxes,Nusselt number and so on,are analyzed.The results show that the particles have less effects on turbulent thermal fields with the increase of Prandtl number.Two reasons can explain this.First,the correlation between fluid thermal field and velocity field decreases as the Prandtl number increases,and the modulation of turbulent velocity field induced by the particles has less influence on the turbulent thermal field.Second,the heat exchange between turbulence and particles decreases for the particle-laden flow with the larger Prandtl number,and the thermal feedback of the particles to turbulence becomes weak.     

Numerical modeling of a two-dimensional vertical turbulent two-phase jet

The results of numerically modeling two-dimensional two-phase flow of the “gas-solid particles” type in a vertical turbulent jet are presented for three cases of its configuration, namely, descending, ascending, and without account of gravity. Both flow phases are modeled on the basis of the Navier-Stokes equations averaged within the framework of the Reynolds approximation and closed by an extended k-? turbulence model. The averaged two-phase flow parameters (particle and gas velocities, particle concentration, turbulent kinetic energy, and its dissipation) are described using the model of mutually-penetrating continua. The model developed allows for both the direct effect of turbulence on the motion of disperse-phase particles and the inverse effect of the particles on turbulence leading to either an increase or a decrease in the turbulent kinetic energy of the gas. The model takes account for gravity, viscous drag, and the Saffman lift. The system of equations is solved using a difference method. The calculated results are in good agreement with the corresponding experimental data which confirms the effect of solid particles on the mean and turbulent characteristics of gas jets.     

DNS and LES of turbulent flow in a closed channel featuring a pattern of hemispherical roughness elements

Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) and Large Eddy Simulations (LES) were performed for fully-developed turbulent flow in channels with smooth walls and walls featuring hemispherical roughness elements at shear Reynolds numbers Re_τ = 180 and 400, with the goal of studying the effect of these roughness elements on the wall-layer structure and on the friction factor. The LES and DNS approaches were verified first by comparison with existing DNS databases for smooth walls. Then, a parametric study for the hemispherical roughness elements was conducted, including the effects of shear Reynolds number, normalized roughness height (k⁺ = 10–20) and relative roughness spacing (s⁺/k⁺ = 2–6). The sensitivity study also included the effect of distribution pattern (regular square lattice vs. random pattern) of the roughness elements on the walls. The hemispherical roughness elements generate turbulence, thus increasing the friction factor with respect to the smooth-wall case, and causing a downward shift in the mean velocity profiles. The simulations revealed that the friction factor decreases with increasing Reynolds number and roughness spacing, and increases strongly with increasing roughness height. The effect of random element distribution on friction factor and mean velocities is however weak. In all cases, there is a clear cut between the inner layer near the wall, which is affected by the presence of the roughness elements, and the outer layer, which remains relatively unaffected. The study reveals that the presence of roughness elements of this shape promotes locally the instantaneous flow motion in the lateral direction in the wall layer, causing a transfer of energy from the streamwise Reynolds stress to the lateral component. The study indicates also that the coherent structures developing in the wall layer are rather similar to the smooth case but are lifted up by almost a constant wall-unit shift y⁺ (∼10–15), which, interestingly, corresponds to the relative roughness k⁺ = 10.     

Measurements of turbulence characteristics in an open-channel flow over a transitionally-rough bed using particle image velocimetry

The particle image velocimetry technique was used to measure characteristics of a turbulent flow over a transitionally-rough fixed bed in an open-channel flow. These conditions are typical of flows encountered in sediment transport problems. Measurements obtained with this technique were used to investigate the distributions of velocities, turbulence intensities, Reynolds stress, and third- and fourth-order moments in a region above y ⁺ = 10. The present results are in good agreement to those previously obtained on smooth walls and provide further evidence that PIV can be applied successfully to investigate turbulence in open-channel flows over a rough bed.     

Filtered particle tracking in isotropic turbulence and stochastic modeling of subgrid-scale dispersion

A numerical study based on the Eulerian–Lagrangian formulation is performed for dispersed phase motion in a turbulent flow. The effect of spatial filtering, commonly employed in large-eddy simulations, and the role of the subgrid scale turbulence on the statistics of heavy particles, including preferential concentration, are studied through a priori analysis of DNS of particle-laden forced isotropic turbulence. In simulations where the subgrid scale kinetic energy attains 30–35% of the total we observe the impact of residual fluid motions on particles of a smaller inertia. It is shown that neglecting the influence of subgrid scale fluctuations has a significant effect on the preferential concentration of those particles. A stochastic Langevin model is proposed to reconstruct the residual (or subgrid scale) fluid velocity along particle trajectories. The computation results for a selection of particle inertia parameters are performed to appraise the model through comparisons of particle turbulent kinetic energy and the statistics of preferential concentrations.     

DEPOSITION OF PARTICLES IN TURBULENT PIPE FLOW

1. Introduction Deposition of particles from turbulent flowing suspen- sions on wall is important in many engineering applications. Examples include fouling of power generation equipment (heat exchanger surface, gas turbine blades, etc.), flue gas clean-up, air-cleaning, deposition of droplets in cooling duct, etc. To predict required maintenance intervals and provide allowance in designing, a quantitative analysis of the deposition rate is necessary. In turbulent pipe flow, the main depositio…     

Direct numerical simulation of particle interaction with ejections in turbulent channel flows

Direct numerical simulations (DNS) of incompressible turbulent channel flows coupled with Lagrangian particle tracking are performed to study the characteristics of ejections that surround solid particles. The behavior of particles in dilute turbulent channel flows, without particle collisions and without feedback of particles on the carrier fluid, is studied using high Reynolds number DNS (Re = 12,500). The results show that particles moving away from the wall are surrounded by ejections, confirming previous studies on this issue. A threshold value separating ejections with only upward moving particles is established. When normalized by the square root of the Stokes number and the square of the friction velocity, the threshold profiles follow the same qualitative trends, for all the parameters tested in this study, in the range of the experiments. When compared to suspension thresholds proposed by other studies in the Shields diagram, our simulations predict a much larger value because of the measure used to characterize the fluid and the criterion chosen to decide whether particles are influenced by the surrounding fluid. However, for intermediate particle Reynolds numbers, the threshold proposed here is in fair agreement with the theoretical criterion proposed by Bagnold (1966) [Bagnold, R., 1966. Geological Survey Professional Paper, vol. 422-1]. Nevertheless, further studies will be conducted to understand the normalization of the threshold.