A hybrid Cartesian/immersed boundary method for simulating flows with 3D, geometrically complex, moving bodies

Numerical approaches for motion of dispersed particles, droplets and bubbles

The interaction between a turbulent gas flow and particle motion was investigated by numerical simulations of gas–particle turbulent downward flow in a vertical channel. In particular the effect of inter-particle collision on the two-phase flow field was investigated. The gas flow field was obtained by large-eddy simulation (LES). Particles were treated by a Lagrangian method, with inter-particle collisions calculated by a deterministic method. The spatial resolution for LES of gas–solid two-phase turbulent flow was examined and relations between grid resolution and Stokes number are presented. Profiles of particle mean velocity, particle wall-normal fluctuation velocity and number density are flattened as a result of inter-particle collisions and these results are in good agreement with experimental measurements. Calculated turbulence attenuation by particles agrees well with experimental measurements for small Stokes numbers, but not for large Stokes number particle. The shape and scale of particle concentrations calculated considering inter-particle collision are in good agreement with experimental observations.

Large-eddy simulation of turbulent gas–particle flow in a vertical channel: effect of considering inter-particle collisions

Derivation of drag and lift force and torque coefficients for non-spherical particles in flows

The lift force experienced by a spinning sphere moving in a viscous fluid, with constant linear and angular velocities, is measured by means of a trajectographic technique. Measurements are performed in the range of dimensionless angular velocities γ=aω/V lying between 1 and 6, and in the range of Reynolds numbers Re=2aV/ν lying between 10 and 140 (a sphere radius, ω angular velocity, V relative velocity of the sphere centre, ν fluid kinematic viscosity). A notable departure from the theoretical relationship at low Reynolds number, C

 L
 =2γ, is obtained, the ratio C

 L
 /γ being found to significantly decrease with increasing γ and increasing Re. The following correlation is finally proposed to estimate the lift coefficient in the range 10<Re<140: 
C

 L
 ≅0.45+(2γ−0.45) exp (−0.075γ0.4
Re
0.7)

Experiments on the lift of a spinning sphere in a range of intermediate Reynolds numbers

The problem of determining the steady axially symmetrical motion induced by a sphere rotating with constant angular velocity about a diameter in an incompressible viscous fluid which is at rest at large distances from it is considered. The basic independent variables are the polar co-ordinates (r, θ) in a plane through the axis of rotation and with origin at the centre of the sphere. The equations of motion are reduced to three sets of nonlinear second-order ordinary differential equations in the radial variable by expanding the flow variables as series of orthogonal Gegenbauer functions with argument μ = cosθ. Numerical solutions of the finite set of equations obtained by truncating the series after a given number of terms are obtained. The calculations are carried out for Reynolds numbers in the range R = 1 to R = 100, and the results are compared with various other theoretical results and with experimental observations.The torque exerted by the fluid on the sphere is found to be in good agreement with theory at low Reynolds numbers and appears to tend towards the results of steady boundary-layer theory for increasing Reynolds number. There is excellent agreement with experimental results over the range considered. A region of inflow to the sphere near the poles is balanced by a region of outflow near the equator and as the Reynolds number increases the inflow region increases and the region of outflow becomes narrower. The radial velocity increases with Reynolds number at the equator, indicating the formation of a radial jet over the narrowing region of outflow. There is no evidence of any separation of the flow from the surface of the sphere near the equator over the range of Reynolds numbers considered.

The steady flow due to a rotating sphere at low and moderate Reynolds numbers

The steady flow of a viscous fluid due to a rotating sphere

The motion of a sphere along the axis of rotation of an incompressible viscous fluid that is rotating as a solid mass is investigated by means of numerical methods for small values of the Reynolds and Taylor numbers. The Navier–Stokes equations governing the steady axisymmetric flow can be written as three coupled, nonlinear, elliptic partial differential equations for the stream function, vorticity and rotational velocity component. Two numerical methods are employed to solve these equations. The first is the method of series truncation in which the dependent variables are expressed as series of orthogonal Gegenbauer functions and the equations of motion are then reduced to three coupled sets of ordinary differential equations, which are integrated numerically subject to their boundary conditions. In the second method, specialized finite–difference techniques of solution are applied to the two-dimensional partial differential equations. These techniques employ finite-difference equations with coefficients that depend upon the exponential function; a particularly suitable form of approximation for use in calculating numerical solutions is obtained by expanding the exponential coefficients in powers of their exponents. Calculated results obtained by the two methods are in good agreement with each other. The calculations have been carried out according to theoretical assumptions that simulate the experiments of Maxworthy (1965) in which the sphere experiences no resultant torque exerted by the surrounding fluid and is free to rotate with constant angular velocity. Numerical estimates of this angular velocity and of the drag exerted by the fluid on the sphere are found to agree well with the experimental results for Reynolds and Taylor numbers in the range from zero to unity. The results for small values of the Reynolds number are also consistent with theoretical work of Childress (1963, 1964) which is valid as the Reynolds number tends to zero.

S. N. Singh

Papers

The steady flow due to a rotating sphere at low and moderate Reynolds numbers

The steady flow of a viscous fluid due to a rotating sphere

The slow translation of a sphere in a rotating viscous fluid