COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMIC STUDY OF TWO PHASE BUBBLY FLOW THROUGH HORIZONTAL PIPES

Abstract

Two-phase gas—liquid or vapor—liquid flows are encountered over a wide range of industrial applications. Due to their complex nature, these flows have mostly been investigated only experimentally. Based on the experimental results, empirical correlations describing the flow, most of them only valid in a limited range of operating conditions, have been developed. Here a CFD code in FLUENT 6.3.26 has been developed to study and simulate various parameters of the two phase bubbly flow in horizontal pipes. The main aim of the present study is to show the distribution pattern of the volume fraction of air in the 2-D pipe geometry (when water is considered to be the primary phase). As observed from the experimental studies the CFD code successfully examines that most of the air volume fraction concentrates near the upper pipe wall. The reason for this unique flow behaviour is the buoyancy forces that act on the air bubbles. Also the from the velocity plots it can easily be deduced that the flow is fully developed in the lower regions of the pipe. 2-D geometry of pipe is considered for the calculations. A 3-D geometry could give much better and deeper insight of the flow through pipe but due to lack of time 2-D computational model is developed for the present case. The results are in satisfactory agreement with the experimental results.