Multifield computational fluid dynamics model of particulate flow in curved circular tubes

Limitations of mass transfer resulting from non-optimized fluid mechanics can severely affect the performance of synthetic membrane filtration systems. To improve membrane efficiency, modern applications of this technology have extensively used curved membrane ducts that take advantage of Dean vortices (i.e., curvature-induced secondary flows) to minimize membrane fouling. This paper is concerned with a complete three-dimensional analysis of single-phase and two-phase particle/liquid flows around a curved membrane tube. The proposed multidimensional model was implemented in an advanced (next-generation) multiphase computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver, NPHASE. The results of simulations have been validated against experimental data and compared against other findings available in the literature. The consistency and accuracy of the present approach have been demonstrated. The novel aspects of this work include: the demonstration that azimuthal vortices may bifurcate at Dean numbers lower than previously anticipated, the use of vorticity magnitude as a measure of vortex strength, and the explanation of the role that Dean vortices play to mitigate the effect of gravity on particle settling. The overall results have direct relevance to synthetic membrane fouling during filtration of particle suspensions.