Numerical simulation of bubbly flow around a cylinder by semi-Lagrangian–Lagrangian method
International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow
ISSN: 0961-5539
Article publication date: 26 September 2019
Issue publication date: 21 November 2019
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to design numerical simulations of bubbly flow around a cylinder to better understand the characteristics of flow around a rigid obstacle.
Design/methodology/approach
The bubbly flow around a circular cylinder was numerically simulated using a semi-Lagrangian–Lagrangian method composed of a vortex-in-cell method for the liquid phase and a Lagrangian description of the gas phase. Additionally, a penalization method was applied to account for the cylinder inside the flow. The slip condition of the bubbles on the cylinder’s surface was enforced, and the outflow conditions were applied to the liquid flow at the far field.
Findings
The simulation clarified the characteristics of a bubbly flow around a circular cylinder. The bubbles were shown to move around and separate from both sides of the cylinder, because of entrainment by the liquid shear layers. Once the bubbly flow fully developed, the bubbles distributed into groups and were dispersed downstream of the cylinder. A three-dimensional vortex structure of various scales was also shown to form downstream, whereas a quasi-stable two-dimensional vortex structure was observed upstream. Overall, the proposed method captured the characteristics of a bubbly flow around a cylinder well.
Originality/value
A semi-Lagrangian–Lagrangian approach was applied to simulate a bubbly flow around a circular cylinder. The simulations provided the detail features of these flow phenomena.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by a grant from the Project of Creation of Life Innovation Materials for Interdisciplinary and International Researcher Development of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan.
Citation
Nguyen, V.L., Degawa, T., Uchiyama, T. and Takamure, K. (2019), "Numerical simulation of bubbly flow around a cylinder by semi-Lagrangian–Lagrangian method", International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, Vol. 29 No. 12, pp. 4660-4683. https://doi.org/10.1108/HFF-03-2019-0227
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited