2D Numerical Simulations of Bubble Flow in Straight Pipes

직관내 기포의 흐름에 대한 2차원 수치 모의

Water aeration is an effective water treatment process, which involves the injection of air or air-water mixture into water treatment reservoir commonly through pipes. The main purpose of water aeration is to maintain healthy levels of dissolved oxygen (DO), which is the most important water quality factor. The pipes' operating conditions are important for controlling the efficiency and effectiveness of aeration process. Many studies have been conducted on two-phase flows in pipes, however, there are a few studies to deal with small s ale in millimeter. The main objective of this study is to perform 2-dimensional two-phase simulations inside various straight pipes using the computational fluid dynamic (CFD) OpenFOAM (Open source Field Operation And Manipulation) tools to examine the influence of flow patterns on bubble size, which is closely related to DO concentration in a water body. The both flow regimes, laminar and turbulence, have been considered in this study. For turbulence, Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) has been applied. The coalescence and breakage of bubbles caused by random collisions and turbulent eddies, respectively, are considered in this research. Sauter mean bubble diameter and water velocity are compared against experimental data. The simulation results are in good agreement with the experimental measurements.