SUMMARY The capability of the direct volume of fluid method for describing the surface dynamics of a free two‐dimensional rising bubble is evaluated using quantities of a recently published benchmark. The model equations are implemented in the open source computational fluid dynamics library OpenFOAM®. Here, a main ingredient of the numerical method is the so‐called surface compression that corrects the fluxes near the interface between two phases. The application of this method with respect to two test cases of a benchmark is considered in the main part. The test cases differ in physical properties, thus in different surface tension effects. The quantities centre of mass position, circularity and rise velocity are tracked over time and compared with the ones given in the benchmark. For test case one, where surface tension effects are more pre‐eminent, deviations from the benchmark results become more obvious. However, the flow features are still within reasonable range. Nevertheless, for test case two, which has higher density and viscosity ratios and above all a lower influence of the surface tension force, good agreement compared with the benchmark reference results is achieved. This paper demonstrates the good capabilities of the direct volume of fluid method with surface compression with regard to the preservation of sharp interfaces, boundedness, mass conservation and low computational time. Some limitation regarding the occurrence of parasitic currents, bad pressure jump prediction and bad grid convergence have been observed. With these restrictions in mind, the method is suitable for the simulation of similar two‐phase flow configurations. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In the present study two benchmark problems for turbulent dispersed particle-laden flow are investigated with computational fluid dynamics (CFD). How the CFD programs OpenFOAM and ANSYS FLUENT model these flows is tested and compared. The numerical results obtained with Lagrangian-Eulerian (LE) point-particle (PP) models for Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations of the fluid flow in steady state and transient modes are compared with the experimental data available in the literature. The effect of the dispersion model on the particle motion is investigated in particular, as well as the order of coupling between the continuous carrier phase and the dispersed phase. First, a backward-facing step (BFS) case is validated. As a second case, the confined bluff body (CBB) is used. The simulated fluid flows correspond well with the experimental data for both test cases. The results for the dispersed solid phase reveal a good accordance between the simulation results and the experiments. It seems that particle dispersion is slightly under-predicted when ANSYS FLUENT is used, whereas the applied solver in OpenFOAM overestimates the dispersion somewhat. Only minor differences between the coupling schemes are detected due to the low volume fractions and mass loadings that are investigated. In the BFS test case the importance of the spatial dimension of the numerical model is demonstrated. Even if it is reasonable to assume a two-dimensional fluid flow structure, it is crucial to simulate the turbulent particle-laden flow with a three-dimensional model since the turbulent dispersion of the particles is three-dimensional. ARTICLE HISTORY

In the present article, the performance and the efficiency of ceramic filters for continuous steel filtration in an induction crucible furnace, which is part of the steel casting simulator facility located at Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg, is investigated numerically. In order to achieve this objective, a macro-scale simulation for the melt flow in the crucible is coupled with a pore-scale simulation for the flow inside the ceramic filter that is adequately resolved by its detailed filter geometry, obtained from computed tomography scan images. The considerable influence of the filter on the flow field is indicated from the present results. Moreover, the efficiency of the employed filter is also determined and compared for two pore densities.

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Shear cell simulations and experiments of weakly wetted particles (a few volume percent liquid binders) are compared, with the goal to understand their flow rheology. Application examples are cores for metal casting by core shooting made of sand and liquid binding materials.The experiments are carried out with a Couettelike rotating viscometer. The weakly wetted granular materials are made of quartz sand and small amounts of Newtonian liquids. For comparison, experiments on dry sand are also performed with a modified configuration of the viscometer. The numerical model involves spherical, monodisperse particles with contact forces and a simple liquid bridge model for individual capillary bridges between two particles. Different liquid content and properties lead to different flow rheology when measuring the shear stress-strain relations. In the experiments of the weakly wetted granular material, the apparent shear viscosity η g scales inversely proportional to the inertial number I, for all shear rates. On the contrary, in the dry case, an intermediate scaling regime inversely quadratic in I is observed for moderate shear rates. In the simulations, both scaling regimes are found for dry and wet granular material as well.