Comparison of experimental data and numerical simulation of two-phase flow pattern in vertical minichannel

Abstract

The aim of the study was the implementation of a numerical simulation of the air-water two-phase flow in the minichannel and comparing results obtained with the values obtained experimentally. To perform the numerical simulations commercial software ANSYS FLUENT 12 was used. The first step of the study was to reproduce the actual research installation as a three-dimensional model with appropriate and possible simplifications -future computational domain. The next step was discretisation of the computational domain and determination of the types of boundary conditions. ANSYS FLUENT 12 has three built-in basic models with which a two-phase flow can be described. However, in this work Volume-of-Fluid (VOF) model was selected as it meets the established requirements of research. Preliminary calculations were performed for a simplified geometry. The calculations were later verified whether or not the simplifications of geometry were chosen correctly and if they affected the calculation. The next stage was validation of the chosen model. After positive verification, a series of calculations was performed, in which the boundary conditions were the same as the starting conditions in laboratory experiments. A satisfactory description of the experimental data accuracy was attained.