A numerical investigation of gas injection into cylinder filled with castor oil using the two-fluid model

Abstract

Paper presented at the 6th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, South Africa, 30 June - 2 July, 2008.

An Eulerian-Eulerian two-fluid mathematical model is used to numerical simulation of two-phase flow caused by the gas injection into a vertical cylinder. The cylinder is filled with castor oil of which the kinematics viscosity is sufficiently large to ensure liquid flow to be in the laminar regime. The mathematical model used in this study, solves transport equations for the variables of each phase with an allowance for interphase mass and momentum exchange. The governing equations are discreted by the finite volume technique and then are solved by SIMPLE staggered grid solution technique. In order to increase the accuracy of calculations, the power-law scheme is employed to approximate the convection and diffusion terms. It is found that the radial components of bubbles velocities are much smaller than the corresponding axial ones, and the bubbles move up almost vertically. Predictions of the proposed model agree closely with a number of published experimental data.