Numerical study of air-water two-phase flow in a two-dimensional vertical helical channel

In this study, air-water two-phase flow patterns in a two-dimensional vertical helical channel are investigated. The simulations are performed using OpenFOAM software. The single-fluid method and Eulerian−Eulerian approach are used to solve the governing equations. The paper focuses on different flow patterns based on the change in the apparent velocity of water and air, and the influence of volume fraction of the air at the entrance of the channel. The variations of turbulent kinetic energy, volume fraction and velocity profile are presented. The range of air and water apparent velocities at the channel entrance is 0.05–10 m s⁻¹ and 0.1–1.5 m s⁻¹, respectively. According to the results, four flow patterns including bubbly, churn, turbulent, and annular are observed. It is demonstrated that for the bubbly regime, the values of volume fraction of phases are close to unity. When the air inlet velocity is very high, the two-phase flow forms the annular flow pattern. (paper)