Tutorial: Hydrodynamics of Bubble column reactors

Purpose
The purpose of this tutorial is to provide guidelines and recommendations for solving a
gas-liquid bubble column problem using the multiphase mixture model, including advice on
solver settings.
In this problem, you will learn how to:
• Set up an unsteady bubble column

• Solve the problem using the Multiphase Mixture Model

Prerequisites
This tutorial assumes that you are familiar with the FLUENT interface and that you have a
good understanding of the basic setup and solution procedures. In this tutorial, you will use
multiphase mixture model. This tutorial will not cover the mechanics of using this model;
instead, it will focus on the multiphase modeling of a gas liquid bubble column. If you have
not used this model before,the tutorial Using the Mixture and Eulerian Multiphase Models,
in the FLUENT 6.2 Tutorial Guide will provide you with the necessary experience.

Problem Description
The representation of the problem is shown in Figure 1. The gas-liquid bubble flow is in
a flat bubble column with rectangular cross-section and essentially two-dimensional flow
pattern.
The main dimensions of the experimental apparatus are a length of 0.5 m and height of
1.5 m, which give a height-to-length ratio of 3. The gas is injected into the water column
through a small inlet located 15 cm away from the left side wall. The inlet is 4 cm wide,
and the air’s velocity at the inlet is very small, 6.6e-4 m/s. The mean diameter for the air
bubbles is 3 mm.

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Figure 1: Schematic of the Gas-Liquid Bubble Column

Setup and Solution

Step 1: Grid

1. Start the 2D version of FLUENT.

2. Read the mesh file (becker.msh).

File −→ Read −→ Case...
As the mesh is read in, messages will appear in the console window reporting the
progress of the reading. The mesh size will be reported as 1443 cells.

3. Check the grid.

Grid −→ Check
FLUENT performs various checks on the mesh and reports the progress in the console
window. Pay particular attention to the minimum volume. Make sure that this is a
positive number.

4. Display the grid (Figure 2).

Display −→ Grid...

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Grid
FLUENT 6.2 (2d, segregated, lam)

Figure 2: Graphics Display of the Grid

Step 2: Models

1. Define the solver settings.

Define −→ Models −→ Solver...
(a) Keep the Solver setting.
The multiphase model is available only with the segregated solver.
(b) Under Time, specify the time dependence as Unsteady

2. Turn on the multiphase mixture model.

Define −→ Models −→Multiphase...
(a) Under Model, select Mixture.
(b) Under Body Force Formulation, turn on Implicit Body Force option.

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Step 3: Materials
You will need to add the fluid water to the list of fluid materials by copying it from the
FLUENTmaterials database.
Define −→ Materials...

1. Select fluid in the Material Type drop-down list.

2. Select water-liquid (h2o<l>) in the Fluent Fluid Materials list.

3. Click Copy and close both the Fluent Database Materials panel and the Materials panel.
The properties will be downloaded from the database into your local list, and a copy of
the properties will now be displayed in the Materials panel.

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Step 4: Phases

1. Define the primary and secondary phases.

Define −→ Phases...

2. Select phase-1 and click Set....

The Primary Phase panel will open automatically.

(a) In the Name text entry box, change the phase name to water-liquid.
(b) Select water-liquid in the Phase Material drop-down list.

3. In the Phases panel, select phase-2 and click Set....

(a) Select air in the Phase Material drop-down list.
(b) In the Name text entry box, change the phase name to air.
(c) Under Properties, set the Diameter to 0.003.

Step 5: Operating Conditions

Define −→Operating Conditions...

1. Add the effect gravity on the model.

(a) Turn on Gravity.
(b) Set the Gravitational Acceleration in the Y direction to -9.81 m/s2 .

2. Set the Reference Pressure Location in the Y direction to 1.5 m.

3. Set the operating density.

(a) Under Variable-Density Parameters, turn on Specified Operating Density.
(b) Set the Operating Density to 1.225 kg/m3 .
Set the operating density as the density of the lighter phase. This excludes the
buildup of hydrostatic pressure within the lighter phase, improving the round-off
accuracy for the momentum balance.

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Step 6: Boundary Conditions

Define −→ Boundary Conditions...

1. Set the boundary conditions for velocity-inlet-5.

(a) Select water-liquid in the Phase drop-down list and click Set...
(b) Retain the default settings in Velocity Inlet panel.
(c) In the Boundary Conditions panel, select air in the Phase drop-down list and click
Set...
i. Set the Velocity Magnitude to 0.66e-3 m/s.
ii. Set the Volume Fraction to 1.

2. Set the boundary conditions for pressure-outlet-4.

(a) Select water-liquid from the Phase drop-down list and click Set...
(b) Retain the default settings for water-liquid.
(c) In the Boundary Conditions panel, select air in the Phase dropdown list and click
Set....
(d) Retain the default settings for air.

Step 7: Solution

1. Set the parameters that control the solution.

Solve −→ Controls −→ Solution...
(a) For the Under-Relaxation Factors, set the values of Pressure, Momentum, and
Volume Fraction as 0.5, 0.2, and 0.8 respectively.
Note: Since this is a laminar flow, a turbulence model has not been activated.
If the flow is turbulent, select the appropriate k-epsilon turbulence model
and set the turbulence under-relaxation parameters for Kinetic Energy and
Turbulent Dissipation Rate to 0.8.
(b) Under Discretization, select Body Force Weighted for Pressure and QUICK for
Momentum and Volume Fraction.
(c) Under Pressure-Velocity Coupling, select PISO.

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2. Enable the plotting of residuals during the calculation.

Solve −→ Monitors −→Residual...
(a) Under Options, select Plot.
(b) Set the Convergence Criterion for vf-air to 1e-5.

3. Initialize the flow field.

Solve −→ Initialize −→Initialize...

4. Create an animation sequence for the velocity vector and volume fraction display.
Solve −→ Animate −→Define...

(a) In the Solution Animation panel, increase the number of Animation Sequences to
2.
(b) Under Name enter vof for the first animation and vel-vectors for the second.
(c) Increase the value of Every to 200 for vof and vel-vectors.
(d) Under When select Time Step for vof and vel-vectors.
(e) Click Define... to define the animation sequence for vof.

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i. In the Animation Sequence panel, increase the Window number to 1 and click
Set.
ii. Under Display Type, select Contours to open the Contours panel.
iii. Set the display properties for the Contours of Volume fraction window by
clicking the Display button in the Contours panel.
iv. Under Options uncheck the Auto Range option and set the range from 0.996
to 1.
v. Close the Contours and Animation Sequence panels.
(f) Click Define... to define the animation sequence for vel-vectors.
i. In the Animation Sequence panel, increase the Window number to 2 and click
Set.
ii. Under Display Type, select Vectors to open the Vectors panel.
iii. Set the display properties for the Vectors of Velocity Magnitude window by
clicking the Display button in the Vectors panel.
iv. Under Options uncheck the Auto Range option and set the range from 2.26e-4
to 1.32e-1.
v. Close the Vectors and Animation Sequence panels.
(g) Turn on the Autosave option.
File −→ Write −→Autosave...
i. Set the Autosave Data File Frequency to 200.

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5. Save the case file (becker.cas).

File −→ Write −→Case...

6. Set the time stepping parameters.

Solve −→Iterate...
(a) Set Time Step Size to 0.01.
(b) Set the Number of Time Steps to 5000.
(c) Click Iterate.

7. Save the data file (becker.dat).

File −→ Write −→ Data...

Step 8: Postprocessing

1. Play back the animations of the volume fraction and velocity vectors.
Solve −→ Animate −→Playback...

(a) Under Sequences select vof and click the button.

(b) Under Sequences select vel-vectors and click the button.

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2. Display filled contours of volume fraction of air (Figure 3).

Display −→Contours...

(a) Under Options, select Filled and Auto Range.

(b) Select Phases... and Volume fraction in the Contours of drop-down list.
(c) Select air in the Phase drop down list and click Display.

1.00e+00
9.50e-01
9.00e-01
8.50e-01
8.00e-01
7.50e-01
7.00e-01
6.50e-01
6.00e-01
5.50e-01
5.00e-01
4.50e-01
4.00e-01
3.50e-01
3.00e-01
2.50e-01
2.00e-01
1.50e-01
1.00e-01
5.00e-02
0.00e+00

Contours of Volume fraction (air) (Time=5.0000e+01)

FLUENT 6.2 (2d, segregated, mixture, lam, unsteady)

Figure 3: Contours of Volume fraction of Air

3. Display velocity vectors (Figure 4).

Display −→Vectors...

(a) Select Velocity... and Velocity Magnitude in the Color by dropdown list.
(b) Click Display.

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1.32e-01
1.25e-01
1.19e-01
1.12e-01
1.06e-01
9.91e-02
9.25e-02
8.59e-02
7.93e-02
7.27e-02
6.61e-02
5.95e-02
5.29e-02
4.63e-02
3.98e-02
3.32e-02
2.66e-02
2.00e-02
1.34e-02
6.81e-03
2.26e-04

Velocity Vectors Colored By Velocity Magnitude (mixture) (m/s) (Time=5.0000e+01)

FLUENT 6.2 (2d, segregated, mixture, lam, unsteady)

Figure 4: Velocity Vectors for the Bubble Column

Summary
In this tutorial, an unsteady bubble column was set up and solved using the Mixture
Multiphase model in FLUENT.
For more information about the applicability of the different multiphase models, refer to
General Multiphase Models in FLUENT 6.2 User’s Guide.

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