A disturbance corrected point-particle approach for two-way coupled particle-laden flows on arbitrary shaped grids

TL;DR

This paper introduces a versatile two-way coupled point-particle method that corrects for particle-induced disturbances in fluid flow calculations, improving accuracy on arbitrary grids for particle-laden flows.

Contribution

It presents a novel disturbance correction approach for two-way coupled particle-laden flows applicable to various numerical schemes and grid types.

Findings

Accurately computes particle motion in unbounded and wall-bounded flows.

Validates the disturbance correction method on uniform, anisotropic, and unstructured grids.

Demonstrates improved force computation and flow prediction accuracy.

Abstract

A general, two-way coupled, point-particle formulation that accounts for the disturbance created by the dispersed particles in obtaining the undisturbed fluid flow field needed for accurate computation of the force closure models is presented. Specifically, equations for the disturbance field created by the presence of particles are first derived based on the inter-phase momentum coupling force in a finite-volume formulation. Solution to the disturbance field is obtained using two approaches: (i) direct computation of the disturbance velocity and pressure using the reaction force due to particles at computational control volumes, and (ii) a linearized, approximate computation of the disturbance velocity field, specifically applicable for low Reynolds number flows. In both approaches, the computed disturbance field is used to obtain the undisturbed fluid velocity necessary to model the aerodynamic forces on the particle. The two approaches are thoroughly evaluated for a single particle in an unbounded and wall-bounded flow on uniform, anisotropic, as well as unstructured grids to show accurate computation of the particle motion and inter-phase coupling. The approach is straightforward and can be applied to any numerical formulation for particle-laden flows including Euler-Lagrange as well as Euler-Euler formulations.