Multiscale modelling of mass transfer in gas jets and bubble plumes

Abstract

The injection of high‐speed gas streams into liquids is common in many industrial applications, such as sparging in multiphase reactors and contacting in mass transfer devices. Modelling the fluid dynamics and associated heat and mass transfer processes in such a system is complex because it involves many governing scales and drastic changes in physical properties. In this study, one formulation of a multiscale computational fluid dynamics model is proposed to simulate the fluid dynamics and mass transfer in such systems. The model uses volume‐of‐fluid interface capturing in regions where high mesh resolution can be attained and the drift‐flux or mixture model approximation in regions where mesh resolution is too low to directly resolve interface dynamics. The model was developed to provide a tunable, automatic transition between the two modelling approaches for both fluid dynamics and mass transfer predictions. The approach was validated through a comparison with results from two published studies. In the first case, the implementation of the drift‐flux model was validated through the simulation of a dispersed gas bubble plume injected into a cylindrical tank. In the second case, the fluid dynamics and mass transfer predictions were compared to results from an experimental study involving the horizontal injection of air into a rectangular tank filled with water for the application of aeration. The results show that the modelling approach can provide a good prediction of the experimental data using only limited fitting of empirical parameters, making it applicable to a broad range of other applications.

Issue Highlights

“…The model was validated using experimental data for fluid dynamics in a vertical bubble plume and mass transfer in a horizontally-injected gas jet that transitions to a bubble plume. [4]…”

“…The transition between the governing flow and mass transfer models is controlled by the local phase fraction. The model was validated using experimental data for fluid dynamics in a vertical bubble plume and mass transfer in a horizontally‐injected gas jet that transitions to a bubble plume …”