A New Theoretical Framework for Characterizing the Transport of Liquid in Turbulent Two-Phase Flows

International audienceWhen a liquid stream is injected into a gaseous atmosphere, it destabilizes and continuously passes through different states characterized by different morphologies. Throughout this process, the flow dynamics may be different depending on the region of the flow and the scales of the involved liquid structures. Exploring this multi-scale, multi-dimensional phenomenon requires some new theoretical tools, some of which need yet to be elaborated. In the present study, an innovative general framework is established by transposing the machinery of two-point statistical analysis to a relevant metric of liquid-gas flows (the liquid volume fraction). This allows distinguishing the transport of liquid which occurs in geometrical space (i.e. from one position in the flow to the other) and the one occurring in scale space (e.g. from large to small scales). These equations are exact and do not rely on any particular assumptions. The notion of scale is explicit and unambiguously defined. They further apply to the entire flow field, from the injection to the spray dispersion zone and irrespectively of the flow configuration or regime. This new set of equations is here invoked to characterize the air-assisted atomization of a planar liquid layer simulated by means of Direct Numerical Simulation using the ARCHER code

Coupled Level set moment of fluid method for simulating multiphase flows

International audienceA coupled level set moment of fluid (CLSMOF) method for numerical simulation of multiphase flows is presented in this paper. This numerical method of liquid/gas interface capture is a hybrid of classical moment of fluid (MOF) method and coupled level set volume of fluid (CLSVOF) method. In this CLSMOF method, MOF interface reconstruction is used only for the under-resolved liquid structures while the level set function is used for the interface reconstruction for the resolved structures. This method combines the advantages of accurate capture of under-resolved liquid strucutres from MOF method and sharp interface representation by the level set function. The results presented in this paper demonstrates the ability and accuracy of the CLSMOF method to be as high as that of the MOF method while incurring relatively less computational expense. Finally, the application of CLSMOF method to simulation of turbulent diesel jet yeilded a very satisfactory volume conservation

A 3D Moment of Fluid method for simulating complex turbulent multiphase flows

International audienceThis paper presents the moment of fluid method as a liquid/gas interface reconstruction method coupled with a mass momentum conservative approach within the context of numerical simulations of incompressible two-phase flows. This method tracks both liquid volume fraction and phase centroid for reconstructing the interface. The interface reconstruction is performed in a volume (and mass) conservative manner and accuracy of orientation of interface is ensured by minimizing the centroid distance between original and reconstructed interface. With two-phase flows, moment of fluid method is able to reconstruct interface without needing phase volume data from neighboring cells. The performance of this method is analyzed through various transport and deformation tests, and through simple two-phase flows tests that encounter changes in the interface topologies. Exhaustive mesh convergence study for the reconstruction error has been performed through various transport and deformation tests involving simple two-phase flows. It is then applied to simulate atomization of turbulent liquid diesel jet injected into a quiescent environment. The volume conservation error for the moment of fluid method remains small for this complex turbulent case

A comparative study of DNS of airblast atomization using CLSMOF and CLSVOF methods

International audienceThe results from direct numerical simulations (DNS) of planar pre-filming airblast atomization are presented in this paper. The configuration of the airblast atomization is inspired from a published experimental configuration of Gepperth et al (2012, "Ligament and Droplet Characteristics in Prefilming Airblast Atomization", ICLASS 2012). The simulations have been performed using our in-house Navier-Stokes solver ARCHER. Two DNS have been performed each respectively using coupled level moment of fluid (CLSMOF) and coupled level set volume of fluid (CLSVOF) methods for liquid/gas interface reconstruction. The operating point investigated in the simulations correspond to aircraft altitude relight conditions. The DNS data are post-processed consistent to that of the experimental data to extract droplet and ligament statistics. The droplet diameter distribution from the simulations is found to be having satisfactory agreement with the experimental data. Two breakup mechanisms of atomization are observed: sheet breakup producing small droplets and ligament breakup producing medium and bulgy droplets. The CLSMOF method is observed to produce more medium and bulgy droplets owing to dominant ligament breakup while CLSVOF method produced more number of small droplets owing to predominant sheet breakup mechanism. A good agreement was found between simulations and experiments for Sauter Mean Diameter (SMD) of the droplets. The droplet diameter distribution from the simulations are found to under-predict the peak of the distribution but displays similar profile as that of the experiments. The droplet velocity distribution from the simulations is found to agree well with that of the experiments. The liquid ligaments formed at the trailing edge of the pre-filmer plate are characterized by their lengths. The breakup length of the ligaments, defined as arithmetic mean of the ligament lengths, computed from the simulations agree satisfactorily with the value computed from the experimental data

Liquid transport in scale space

When a liquid stream is injected into a gaseous atmosphere, it destabilizes and continuously passes through different states characterized by different morphologies. Throughout this process, the flow dynamics may be different depending on the region of the flow and the scales of the involved liquid structures. Exploring this multi-scale, multi-dimensional phenomenon requires some new theoretical tools, some of which need yet to be elaborated. Here, a new analytical framework is proposed on the basis of two-point statistical equations of the liquid volume fraction. This tool, which originates from single phase turbulence, allows notably to decompose the fluxes of liquid in flow-position space and scale space. Direct Numerical Simulations of liquid-gas turbulence decaying in a triply periodic domain are then used to characterize the time and scale evolution of the liquid volume fraction. It is emphasized that two-point statistics of the liquid volume fraction depend explicitly on the geometrical properties of the liquid-gas interface and in particular its surface density. The stretch rate of the liquid-gas interface is further shown to be the equivalent for the liquid volume fraction (a non diffusive scalar) of the scalar dissipation rate. Finally, a decomposition of the transport of liquid in scale space highlights that non-local interactions between non adjacent scales play a significant role

A CONSISTENT MASS AND MOMENTUM FLUX COMPUTATION METHOD USING RUDMAN-TYPE TECHNIQUE WITH A CLSVOF SOLVER

ABSTRACT In this paper, a computational method is presented that addresses the problem of multiphase flow characterized by phases with significant density ratio accompanied by strong shearing. The Coupled Level-Set Volume-of-Fluid (CLSVOF) technique is used for interface tracking, while the momentum transfer is coupled to that of mass by means of momentum fluxes computed using a sub-grid. This is an extended adaptation of Rudman's volume tracking techniqu

A diffuse interface approach for disperse two-phase flows involving dual-scale kinematics of droplet deformation based on geometrical variables

The purpose of this contribution is to derive a reduced-order two-phase flow model in- cluding interface subscale modeling through geometrical variables based on Stationary Action Principle (SAP) and Second Principle of Thermodynamics in the spirit of [6, 14]. The derivation is conducted in the disperse phase regime for the sake of clarity but the resulting paradigm can be used in a more general framework. One key issue is the definition of the proper potential and kinetic energies in the Lagrangian of the system based on geometrical variables (Interface area density, mean and Gauss curvatures...), which will drive the subscale kinematics and dissipation, and their coupling with large scales of the flow. While [14] relied on bubble pulsation, that is normal deformation of the interface with shape preservation related to pressure changes, we aim here at tackling inclusion deformation at constant volume, thus describing self-sustained oscillations. In order to identify the proper energies, we use Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) of oscillating droplets using ARCHER code and recently devel- oped library, Mercur(v)e, for mean geometrical variable evaluation and analysis preserving topological invariants. This study is combined with historical analytical studies conducted in the small perturba- tion regime and shows that the proper potential energy is related to the surface difference compared to the spherical minimal surface. A geometrical quasi-invariant is also identified and a natural definition of subscale momentum is proposed. The set of Partial Differential Equations (PDEs) including the conservation equations as well as dissipation source terms are eventually derived leading to an original two-scale diffuse interface model involving geometrical variables

From In Situ to satellite observations of pelagic Sargassum distribution and aggregation in the Tropical North Atlantic Ocean

International audienceThe present study reports on observations carried out in the Tropical North Atlantic in summer and autumn 2017, documenting Sargassum aggregations using both ship-deck observations and satellite sensor observations at three resolutions (MSI-10 m, OLCI-300 m, VIIRS-750 m and MODIS-1 km). Both datasets reported that in summer, Sargassum aggre-gations were mainly observed off Brazil and near the Caribbean Islands, while they accumulated near the African coast in autumn. Based on in situ observations, we propose a five-class typology allowing standardisation of the description of in situ Sargassum raft shapes and sizes. The most commonly observed Sargassum raft type was windrows, but large rafts composed of a quasi-circular patch hundreds of meters wide were also observed. Satellite imagery showed that these rafts formed larger Sargassum aggregations over a wide range of scales, with smaller aggregations (of tens of m 2 area) nested within larger ones (of hundreds of km 2). Match-ups between different satellite sensors and in situ observations were limited for this dataset, mainly because of high cloud cover during the periods of observation. Nevertheless, comparisons between the two datasets showed that satellite sensors successfully detected Sargassum abundance and aggregation patterns consistent with in situ observations. MODIS and VIIRS sensors were better suited to describing the Sargas-sum aggregation distribution and dynamics at Atlantic scale, while the new sensors, OLCI and MSI, proved their ability to detect Sargassum aggregations and to describe their (sub-) mesoscale nested structure. The high variability in raft shape, size, thickness, depth and biomass density observed in situ means that caution is called for when using satellite maps of Sargassum distribution and biomass estimation. Improvements would require additional in situ and airborne observations or very high-resolution satellite imagery

Investigating the liquid jet atomization process by multiscale analysis and numerical simulation

International audienc