Numerical simulation of bubbles and drops in complex geometries by using dynamic meshes
CFD techniques are important tools for the study of multiphase flows, because most of the physical phenomena of these flows often happen on space and time scales where experimental methodologies are impossible in practice. Notwithstanding, numerical approaches are limited by the computational power...
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| Tipo de recurso: | tesis doctoral |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2018 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) |
| Repositorio: | UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/121030 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/2117/121030 https://dx.doi.org/10.5821/dissertation-2117-121030 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | eng |
| Sumario: | CFD techniques are important tools for the study of multiphase flows, because most of the physical phenomena of these flows often happen on space and time scales where experimental methodologies are impossible in practice. Notwithstanding, numerical approaches are limited by the computational power of the present computers. In this sense, small improvements in the efficiency of the simulations can make the difference between an approachable problem and an unapproachable one. The proposal of this doctoral thesis is focused on developing numerical algorithms to optimize the simulations of multiphase solvers based on single fluids formulations, applied on three-dimensional unstructured meshes, in the context of a finite-volume discretization. In particular, the methods developed in the context of this PhD thesis use a conservative level set technique to deal with the multiphase domain. The work has been organized in five chapters and four appendices. The first chapter constitutes an introduction to the multiphase flows and the different approaches used to study them. The core work of the of this PhD thesis is explained throughout chapters two, three, and four. In those chapters, the improvements performed on the multiphase DNS techniques are addressed in detail, providing results comparisons and discussions on the obtained outcomes. After developing the main ideas of the thesis, a final concluding chapter is presented, summarizing the main findings of this research, and pointing out some future work. Finally, the appendices includes some material that can be useful to understand in depth some specific parts of the thesis but, conversely, they are not essential to follow the main thread. As said before, the core work of this thesis is presented throughout chapters two, three and four. In chapter two, four domain optimization methods are formulated and tested. By using these techniques, small domains can be used in rising bubble simulations, thus saving computational resources. These methods have been implemented in a conservative level set framework. Some of these methods require the use of open boundaries. Therefore, a careful treatment of both inflow and outflow boundaries has been carried out. This includes the development of a new outflow boundary condition as a variation of the classical convective outflow. At this point, a study about the sizing of the computational domain has been conducted, paying special attention to the placement of the inflow and outflow boundaries. Additionally, once the methods are formulated, several validation cases are run to discuss the applicability and robustness of each method. The third chapter present a physical study of a challenging problem: the Taylor bubble. By using the most promising technique from those presented in the previous chapter (i.e. the moving mesh method), the problem of an elongated bubble rising in stagnant liquid is addressed here. A transient study on the velocity field of the problem is provided. Moreover, the study also includes sensitivity analyses with respect to the initial shape of the bubble, the initial volume of the bubble, the flow regime and the inclination of the channel. Chapter number four presents an extension of the developed method to simulate bubbles and drops evolving in complex geometries. The use of an immersed boundary method allows to deal with intricate geometries and to reproduce internal boundaries within an ALE framework. The resulting method is capable of dealing with full unstructured meshes. Different problems are studied here to assert the proposed formulation, both involving constricting and non-constricting geometries. In particular, the following problems are addressed: a 2D gravity-driven bubble interacting with a highly-inclined plane, a 2D gravity-driven Taylor bubble turning into a curved channel, the 3D passage of a drop through a periodically constricted channel, and the impingement of a 3D drop on a flat plate. |
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