Development of resolved CFD–DEM coupling model for three-phase flows with non-spherical particles

• Published in: Chemical engineering science Vol. 267; p. 118335
• Main Authors: Washino, Kimiaki, Chan, Ei L., Tsujimoto, Taichi, Tsuji, Takuya, Tanaka, Toshitsugu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 05.03.2023
• Subjects: Capillary interactions; Hydrodynamic interactions; Resolved CFD–DEM coupling model; Superquadric particles; Three-phase flows; Capillary interactions; Three-phase flows; Resolved CFD–DEM coupling model; Superquadric particles; Hydrodynamic interactions
• ISSN: 0009-2509; 1873-4405
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ces.2022.118335

[Display omitted] •A resolved CFD–DEM coupling model for gas–liquid-solid three-phase flows with non-spherical particles is developed.•Particle shape is implicitly captured by a superquadric function.•Hydrodynamic and capillary interaction forces are directly obtained from simulation.•Particle shape can have a large impact on the fluid-particle interactions and resultant particle movement. In this work, a resolved CFD–DEM coupling model for gas–liquid-solid three-phase flows with non-spherical particles is developed where the shape of the particle is implicitly captured by a superquadric function. Both gas–liquid and fluid–solid interfaces are smoothly represented with a specified thickness so that the interface thicknesses and CFD cell size are independent of each other. Several sensitivity studies are carried out and criteria for mesh- and thickness-independent results are proposed. It is confirmed that the proposed model can properly predict the hydrodynamic and capillary forces acting on particles with a wide range of shapes and contact angles. Finally, the model proposed is applied to perform several virtual experiments of typical chemical engineering processes: a liquid–solid fluidised bed and bubbly flow with various particle shapes. It is found that particle shape can have a significant impact on the fluid-particle interactions and resultant particle movement, leading to segregation and preferential alignment.