On the modeling of bubble evolution and transport using coupled level-set/CFD method

Full text of publication follows: The ability to predict the shape of the gas/liquid/solid interfaces is important for various multiphase flow and heat transfer applications. Specific issues of interest to nuclear reactor thermal-hydraulics, include the evolution of the shape of bubbles attached to solid surfaces during nucleation, bubble surface interactions in complex geometries, etc. Additional problems, making the overall task even more complicated, are associated with the effect of material properties that may be significantly altered by the addition of minute amounts of impurities, such as surfactants or nano-particles. The present paper is concerned with the development of an innovative approach to model time-dependent shape of gas/liquid interfaces in the presence of solid walls. The proposed approach combines a modified level-set method with an advanced CFD code, NPHASE. The coupled numerical solver can be used to simulate the evolution of gas/liquid interfaces in two-phase flows for a variety of geometries and flow conditions, from individual bubbles to free surfaces (stratified flows). The issues discussed in the full paper will include: a description of the novel aspects of the proposed level-set concept based method, an overview of the NPHASE code modeling framework and a description of the coupling method between these two elements of the overall model. A particular attention will be give to the consistency and completeness of model formulation for the interfacial phenomena near the liquid/gas/solid triple line, and to the impact of the proposed numerical approach on the accuracy and consistency of predictions. The accuracy will be measured in terms of both the calculated shape of the interfaces and the gas and liquid velocity fields around the interfaces and in the entire computational domain. The results of model testing and validation will also be shown in the full paper. The situations analyzed will include: bubbles of different sizes and varying bubble-to-pipe diameter ratios, the flow of Taylor bubbles along inclined pipes, the evolution shape of bubbles attached to a solid surface, and the influence of gas/liquid/solid interfacial properties on contact angle. (authors)