Reynolds-Averaged Two-Fluid Model prediction of moderately dilute fluid-particle flow over a backward-facing step

Abstract

In this work a Reynolds-Averaged Two-Fluid fully coupled model (RA-TFM) for modelling of turbulent fluid-particle flow is implemented in OpenFOAM and applied to a vertically orientated backward-facing step. Three particle classes with varying mass loadings (10–40%) and different Stokes number are investigated. Details of the implementation and solution procedure are provided with special attention given to challenging terms. The prediction of mean flow statistics are in good agreement with the data from literature and show a distinct improvement over current model predictions. This improvement was due to the separation of the particle turbulent kinetic energy kp, and the granular temperature Θp, in which the large scale correlated motion and small scale uncorrelated motion are governed by separate transport equations. For each case simulated in this work, turbulence attenuation was accurately predicted, a finding that is attributed to separate coupling terms in both transport equations of kp and εp.