Coupled Lagrangian and Eulerian Simulation of Bubbly Flows in Vertical Pipes : Validation with Experimental Data

Abstract

A set of air-water experiments have been performed under isothermal upward concurrent flow in a vertical column. The interfacial velocity, interfacial area of the bubbles and the void fraction distributions was obtained. Numerical validation of these results for bubbly flow conditions were performed by coupling a Lagrangian code which tracks the 3D motion of the individual bubbles, with an Eulerian one. Both Lagrangian and Eulerian calculations were performed in parallel and iterative self-consistent method was developed. The bubbles-induced turbulence is an important issue considered, to obtain good predictions of experimental results.