DEM simulation of particle mixing in a sheared granular flow

Mixing behaviors of particles are simulated in a sheared granular flow using differently colored but otherwise identical glass spheres, with five different bottom wall velocities. By DEM simulation, the solid fractions, velocities, velocity fluctuations and granular temperatures are measured.The mixing layer thicknesses are compared with the calculations from a simple diffusion equation using the data of apparent self-diffusion coefficients obtained from the current simulation measurements. The calculations and simulation results showed good agreements, demonstrating that the mixing process of granular materials occurred through the diffusion mechanism.     

Particle mixing in a sheared granular flow

Mixing experiments were performed in a shear cell device using differently colored but otherwise identical glass spheres, with five different bottom wall velocities. The motions of the granular materials were recorded by a high-speed camera, so the development of mixing boundaries could be analyzed from the images. By continually tracking the movements of particles, the velocity, fluctuations and the granular temperatures were measured. The self-diffusion coefficients were determined from the histories of particles movements. The mixing layer thicknesses were compared with the calculations from a simple diffusion equation using the data of self-diffusion coefficients obtained from the current measurements. The calculations and experimental results showed good agreements, demonstrating that the mixing process of granular materials occurred through the diffusion mechanism.     

Mixing of cohesive particles in a shear cell

This paper discusses two series of experiments performed in a shear cell device with six different amounts of silicone oils and using 2-mm soda lime beads as the granular materials. The first series of experiments were mixing experiments, and the developments of mixing layer thicknesses were measured. The second series of experiments had the same experimental conditions as the first series but used different combinations of colored particles. In the second series of experiments, the motions of granular materials were recorded by a high-speed camera. Using the image processing technology and particle tracking method, the positions and velocities of particles were measured. The self-diffusion coefficient could be found from the history of the particle displacements.     

Transverse diffusion and heat conduction in a granular layer

The process of non-steady-state transverse diffusion of a passive additive in a granular layer described by a cellular model is investigated. The general results obtained in [1] are applied to an analysis of concrete transport processes of matter and heat in a granular layer. The following four cell models are treated: (1) ideal mixing cells without stagnation zones; (2) ideal mixing cells with stagnation zones; (3) ideal mixing cells with diffusive stagnation zones; (4) ideal mixing cells with diffusive stagnation zones having a finite exchange rate between the free volume and the stagnation zone. The conditions of applicability for each of the above models are found. The time to establish a normal distribution in the transverse diffusion process is determined for all the models. This quantity is then connected with the physical characteristics of transport processes of matter in a layer of nonporous and porous particles, the transport of heat in a granular layer, and the transport of matter in a layer of particles which adsorb an additive.     

Vortex-In-Cell and Probability Density Function Approach for a Passive Scalar Field in a Mixing Layer

A Reynolds-averaged simulation based on the vortex-in-cell (VIC) and the transport equation for the probability density function (PDF) of a scalar has been developed to predict the passive scalar field in a two-dimensional spatially growing mixing layer. The VIC computes the instantaneous velocity and vorticity fields. Then the mean-flow properties, i.e. the mean velocity, the root-mean-square (rms) longitudinal and lateral velocity fluctuations, the Reynolds shear stress, and the rms vorticity fluctuations are computed and used as input to the PDF equation. The PDF transport equation is solved using the Monte Carlo technique. The convection term uses the mean velocities from the VIC. The turbulent diffusion term is modeled using the gradient transport model, in which the eddy diffusivity, computed via the Boussinesq's postulate, uses the Reynolds shear stress and gradients of mean velocities from the VIC. The molecular mixing term is closed by the modified Curl model.

The computational results were compared with two-dimensional experimental results for passive scalar. The predicted turbulent flow characteristics, i.e. mean velocity and rms longitudinal fluctuations in the self-preserving region, show good agreement with the experimental measurements. The profiles of the mean scalar and the rms scalar fluctuations are also in reasonable agreement with the experimental measurements. Comparison between the mean scalar and the mean velocity profiles shows that the scalar mixing region extends further into the free stream than does the momentum mixing region, indicating enhanced transport of scalar over momentum. The rms scalar profiles exhibit an asymmetry relative to the concentration centerline, and indicate that the fluid on the high-speed side mixes at a faster rate than the fluid on the low-speed side. The asymmetry is due to the asymmetry in the mixing frequency cross-stream profiles. Also, the PDFs have peaks biased toward the high-speed side.     

Diffusive mixing through velocity profile variation in microchannels

Rapid mixing does not readily occur at low Reynolds number flows encountered in microdevices; however, it can be enhanced by passive diffusive mixing schemes. This study of micromixing of two miscible fluids is based on the principle that (1) increased velocity at the interface of co-flowing fluids results in increased diffusive mass flux across their interface, and (2) diffusion interfaces between two liquids progress transversely as the flow proceeds downstream. A passive micromixer is proposed that takes advantage of the peak velocity variation, inducing diffusive mixing. The effect of flow variation on the enhancement of diffusive mixing is investigated analytically and experimentally. Variation of the flow profile is confirmed using micro-Particle Image Velocimetry (μPIV) and mixing is evaluated by color variations resulting from the mixing of pH indicator and basic solutions. Velocity profile variations obtained from μPIV show a shift in peak velocities. The mixing efficiency of the Σ-micromixer is expected to be higher than that for a T-junction channel and can be as high as 80%. The mixing efficiency decreases with Reynolds number and increases with downstream length, exhibiting a power law.     

Measuring turbulence in a circulating fluidized bed using PIV techniques

This study utilized the particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique, non-invasively near the wall, in the developing region, for the measurements of laminar and turbulent properties during circulation of Geldart B type particles in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) riser. A novel method was used to measure axial and radial laminar and turbulent solids dispersion coefficients using autocorrelation technique.The instantaneous and hydrodynamic velocities for the solid phase were measured simultaneously in the axial and radial directions using a CCD camera, with the help of a colored rotating transparency. The measured properties, such as laminar and Reynolds stresses, laminar and turbulent granular temperatures, laminar and turbulent dispersion coefficients and energy spectra exhibited anisotropy. The mixing in the riser was on the level of clusters. The total granular temperatures were in reasonable agreement with the literature values. However, the axial and radial solids dispersion coefficients measured near the wall were slightly lower than the radially averaged values in the literature.     

SPH-based simulation of granular collapse on an inclined bed

The paper presents a numerical model for simulating a granular flow and its deposition on an inclined bed. A granular material is described as an elastic–plastic continuum and its constitutive law, namely Hooke's law, is discretized on the basis of the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) method. In the equation of motion, however, the artificial viscosity, which is widely used in SPH, is not applied. The diffusive term derived from Hooke's law is introduced with a diffusion coefficient that varies depending on the stress and strain rate based on the Drucker–Prager yield function. The model is verified and validated through two numerical tests. It is shown that the basic elastic–perfectly plastic characteristics are reproduced with a simple shearing test. The effects of the diffusion coefficient and spatial resolution are investigated to show the validity of the model. In the simulation of the gravitational collapse of a granular column on an inclined bed, the performance of the model from the final deposition profile, the time history of the front position of the granular flow, the maximum runout distance, and the velocity profile are investigated for several cases of basal inclinations. The calculated results show good agreement with the experimental results.     

Experimental and numerical study of pseudo-2D circulating fluidized beds

We present experimental investigations and numerical simulations of a pseudo-2D riser. Experiments were performed for various airflow rates, particle types/diameters, and particle size distributions. Pressure distributions along the wall of the riser were measured. Additional measurements from a smaller pseudo-2D riser (Kallio et al., 2009; Shah et al., 2012) were used to analyze horizontal solids volume fraction profiles. The experimental data were compared with simulation results carried out using an Euler–Euler approach. A mesh sensitivity study was conducted for numerical simulations and effects associated with simplifying real 3D geometry to a 2D model were examined. In addition, the effect of using an algebraic equation to represent the granular temperature versus a full partial differential equation also was examined for numerical simulations. Results showed small but significant near-wall sensitivity of the flow variables to mesh size. Substantial differences in mean pressure, solids distribution, and solid velocities were obtained, when 2D and 3D simulation results were compared. Finally, applying the simplified granular temperature equation for turbulent fluidization and for dilute-phase transport can lead to incorrect predictions in models.     

Comparison of near-infrared spectroscopy and DEM simulations for tracing spatial dispersion of water during mixing

The aim of this work was to validate a wet mixing process, in which a liquid spray is used to impregnate particles during mixing. The experimental results obtained using a bladed-mixer with a near-infrared sensor were compared with the results obtained using a 1:1 discrete element method simulation. The porous particles used in both cases absorbed the sprayed liquid for a process time of about 18 min. Multiple sensors attached to the mixer wall continuously monitored the liquid contents of passing particles. The sensors were modeled in the simulation and the resulting signals were analyzed and compared with the experimental results. We show that the algorithms used for spray and liquid absorption can be used to predict the moisture distribution inside granular materials in chemical and pharmaceutical processes. Such simulations can help to save money, e.g., in resource-intensive experimental plans and equipment design studies, and by varying material parameters.     

Managing false diffusion during second‐order upwind simulations of liquid micromixing

Liquid mixing is an important component of many microfluidic concepts and devices, and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is playing a key role in their development and optimization. Because liquid mass diffusivities can be quite small, CFD simulation of liquid micromixing can over predict the degree of mixing unless numerical (or false) diffusion is properly controlled. Unfortunately, the false diffusion behavior of higher‐order finite volume schemes, which are often used for such simulations, is not well understood, especially on unstructured meshes. To examine and quantify the amount of false diffusion associated with the often recommended and versatile second‐order upwind method, a series of numerical simulations was conducted using a standardized two‐dimensional test problem on both structured and unstructured meshes. This enabled quantification of an ‘effective’ false diffusion coefficient (D_false) for the method as a function of mesh spacing. Based on the results of these simulations, expressions were developed for estimating the spacing required to reduce D_false to some desired (low) level. These expressions, together with additional insights from the standardized test problem and findings from other researchers, were then incorporated into a procedure for managing false diffusion when simulating steady, liquid micromixing. To demonstrate its utility, the procedure was applied to simulate flow and mixing within a representative micromixer geometry using both unstructured (triangular) and structured meshes. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Simulated configurational temperature of particles and a model of constitutive relations of rapid-intermediate-dense granular flow based on generalized granular temperature

In gas–solid flat-base spout bed with a jet, the flow of particles must go through an intermediate regime where both kinetic/collisional and frictional contributions play a role. In this paper, the statistical framework is proposed to define the generalized granular temperature which sums up the configurational temperature and translational granular temperature. The configurational temperature, translational and rotational granular temperatures of particles are simulated by means of CFD-DEM (discrete element method) in a 3D flat-base spout bed with a jet. The configurational temperatures of particles are calculated from instantaneous overlaps of particles. The translational and rotational granular temperatures of particles are calculated from instantaneous translational and angular velocities of particles. Roughly, the simulated translational and rotational granular temperatures increase, reach maximum, and then decrease with the increase of solids volume fractions. However, the configurational temperature increases with the increase of solids volume fractions. At high solid volume fraction, the predicted configurational temperatures are larger than the translational and rotational granular temperatures, indicating that the rate of energy dissipation do contributes by contact deformation of elastic particles. The generalized granular temperature is proposed to show the relation between the variance of the fluctuation velocity of deformation and the variance of the translational fluctuation velocity of particles. The constitutive relations of particle pressure, viscosity, granular conductivity of fluctuating energy and energy dissipation in rapid-intermediate-dense granular flows are correlated to the generalized granular temperature. The variations of particle pressure, shear viscosity, energy dissipation and granular conductivity are analyzed on the basis of generalized granular temperature in a flat-base spout bed with a jet. The axial velocities of particles predicted by a gas–solid two-fluid model of rapid-intermediate-dense granular flows agree with experimental results in a spout bed.     

On the definition of the stress tensor in granular media

This paper investigates the definition of the stress tensor within a granular assembly, when inertial effects are likely to occur. It is shown that the stress tensor can be expressed as a sum of two terms. A first term corresponds to the standard definition of the stress, according to the Love–Weber formula; this term is related to the contact forces existing within adjoining particles. A second term accounts for dynamic effects related to rotation velocities and accelerations of the particles. These results are checked from discrete numerical simulations in order to examine in which context the contribution of inertial effects should not be omitted. With this aim, the simulation of a granular specimen collapse and then a silo discharge is considered.     

Nodal operator splitting adaptive finite element algorithms for the Navier–Stokes equations

Solution algorithms for solving the Navier–Stokes equations without storing equation matrices are developed. The algorithms operate on a nodal basis, where the finite element information is stored as the co-ordinates of the nodes and the nodes in each element. Temporary storage is needed, such as the search vectors, correction vectors and right hand side vectors in the conjugate gradient algorithms which are limited to one-dimensional vectors. The nodal solution algorithms consist of splitting the Navier–Stokes equations into equation systems which are solved sequencially. In the pressure split algorithm, the velocities are found from the diffusion–convection equation and the pressure is computed from these velocities. The computed velocities are then corrected with the pressure gradient. In the velocity–pressure split algorithm, a velocity approximation is first found from the diffusion equation. This velocity is corrected by solving the convection equation. The pressure is then found from these velocities. Finally, the velocities are corrected by the pressure gradient. The nodal algorithms are compared by solving the original Navier–Stokes equations. The pressure split and velocity–pressure split equation systems are solved using ILU preconditioned conjugate gradient methods where the equation matrices are stored, and by using diagonal preconditioned conjugate gradient methods without storing the equation matrices. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Remedies for artificial diapycnal mixing in a σ co‐ordinated model of Tokyo Bay1

False diapycnal mixing often occurs due to horizontal diffusion in the simulation of heat, salinity, or water quality in estuaries by using a σ co‐ordinated ocean model. The Princeton ocean model (POM) is used as a basic σ co‐ordinated model and is applied to Tokyo Bay. Only river discharges are introduced into the model as external forces. Two remedies recommended in the POM, Stelling's horizontal diffusion approximation, Huang's new diffusion formula, Song and Haidvogel's s co‐ordinates, and Smolarkiewicz advection scheme have all been examined for suppressing the false diapycnal mixing. The conclusions are that the simultaneous use of POM's remedy and Stelling's approximation and the simultaneous use of POM's remedy and s co‐ordinates are the most effective. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Large eddy simulation (2D) of spatially developing mixing layer using vortex‐in‐cell for flow field and filtered probability density function for scalar field

A large eddy simulation based on filtered vorticity transport equation has been coupled with filtered probability density function transport equation for scalar field, to predict the velocity and passive scalar fields. The filtered vorticity transport has been formulated using diffusion‐velocity method and then solved using the vortex method. The methodology has been tested on a spatially growing mixing layer using the two‐dimensional vortex‐in‐cell method in conjunction with both Smagorinsky and dynamic eddy viscosity subgrid scale models for an anisotropic flow. The transport equation for filtered probability density function is solved using the Lagrangian Monte‐Carlo method. The unresolved subgrid scale convective term in filtered density function transport is modelled using the gradient diffusion model. The unresolved subgrid scale mixing term is modelled using the modified Curl model. The effects of subgrid scale models on the vorticity contours, mean streamwise velocity profiles, root‐mean‐square velocity and vorticity fluctuations profiles and negative cross‐stream correlations are discussed. Also the characteristics of the passive scalar, i.e. mean concentration profiles, root‐mean‐square concentration fluctuations profiles and filtered probability density function are presented and compared with previous experimental and numerical works. The sensitivity of the results to the Schmidt number, constant in mixing frequency and inflow boundary conditions are discussed. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

不同形状混合器中二元颗粒的分聚与混合研究

采用实验、模拟及理论的分析方法, 研究了在圆形混合器、椭圆形混合器、正方形混合器中, 不同转速和填充率条件下, 容器形状对二元颗粒体系分聚与混合的影响. 实验中通过改变转速与填充率, 可获得不同的颗粒分聚与混合图样, 对示踪颗粒运动轨迹的分析发现, 在圆形混合器中, 随着混合器转速的增大, 颗粒在径向的随机性减少;在正方形混合器中, 随着混合器转速的增大, 颗粒在径向的随机性增大.模拟结果发现颗粒流动分为两个区域, 在表面的快速流动和在整体的旋转运动. 通过理论分析发现颗粒分聚在圆形混合器中最明显, 在正方形混合器中最弱, 椭圆形混合器介于二者之间.      

竖直振动管中颗粒毛细效应的离散元模拟

将一根细管插入填充有颗粒的静止容器中并对管施加竖直振动,颗粒将在管内发生上升运动,并最终稳定在一定高度,这一现象与液体毛细效应类似,被称为颗粒毛细效应.为探究颗粒毛细效应过程中伴随的颗粒尺度动力学行为及机理,基于离散元方法建立颗粒运动模型,对颗粒毛细效应动力学过程和特性开展数值模拟研究.模拟再现了文献中实验得到的颗粒毛细效应全过程,给出了管内颗粒柱高度随时间的演变规律,结果表明,受到颗粒系统参数的影响,本模拟条件下颗粒毛细效应过程呈现单周期上升、倍周期上升和倍周期稳定三个阶段,在倍周期上升阶段颗粒柱上升速度逐渐减小,平缓过渡到稳定阶段.在此基础上,分析了管内颗粒速度场和填充率分布随时间的演变特性,揭示了颗粒毛细效应过程中由容器传输到管内的颗粒的占比分布.研究发现,管内不同高度位置颗粒的运动并不同步,随着管的振动,管内出现速度波,速度波的传播引起管内颗粒出现膨胀和压缩交替的情况,从而管内颗粒填充率随时间发生周期性波动;在上升阶段,越接近管壁由容器传输到管内的颗粒占比越大,在稳定阶段,管内上层颗粒的对流引起容器传输到管内的颗粒占比发生反转.