Abstract

BARITTO, Miguel  and  SEGURA, Julio. Numerical study of taylor bubble rising in a vertical noncircular mini channel: Part I. Rev. Fac. Ing. UCV [online]. 2008, vol.23, n.2, pp.27-36. ISSN 0798-4065.

We present a numerical study for Taylor bubbles rising in a vertical non-circular mini channel filled with stagnant liquid. Triangular and square cross-sections were considered for this study. A Eulerian-Eulerian heterogeneous model for free surface flow was solved by the elements based finite volume method (EbFVM) implemented in commercial software ANSYS® CFX-10.0™. The mathematical model takes into account the effects of surface tension and viscous force. The first behavior was modeled by the Continuous Surface Model (CSF), and the second by solving the conservation equations of both the mass and the momentum of each phase and interphase, coupled with the conservation equation of the volume fraction at the interphase. The bubble drift velocity and the interfacial profiles were compared with published experimental data and good agreement has been obtained. As a result, the model has been validated for the study of this kind of twophase flow.

Keywords : Taylor bubbles; Drift velocity; Mini channels; Two-phase flow; Computational fluid dynamics (CFD); Elements based finite volume method (EbFVM).