Diffuse-interface blended method for the imposition of physical boundaries in two-fluid flows

Abstract

Multiphase flows are commonly found in chemical engineering processes such as distillation columns, bubble columns, fluidized beds and heat exchangers. Physical boundaries in numerical simulations of multiphase flows are generally defined by a mesh that conforms to the physical boundaries of the system. Depending on the complexity of the physical system, generating the conformal mesh can be time-consuming and the resulting mesh could potentially contain a large number of skewed elements, which is undesirable. The diffuse-interface approach allows for a structured mesh to be used while still capturing the desired solid-fluid boundaries. In this work, a diffuse-interface method for the imposition of physical boundaries is developed for two-fluid incompressible flow systems. The diffuse-interface is used to define the physical boundaries and the boundary conditions are imposed by blending the conservation equations from the twofluid model with that of the solid. The results from the diffuse-interface method and mesh-defined boundaries are found to be in good agreement at small diffuse-interface widths.