The Modeling of Lift and Dispersion Forces in Two-Fluid Model Simulations: Part II — Boundary Layer Flows

Two-fluid model simulations of a bubbly vertical boundary layer with point injection are presented. A new bubble turbulence dispersion model, designed to be used with RANS type turbulence models, was formulated and compared with recent data of [1] and [2]. These data showed that bubble migration toward the wall is controlled by the coherent large scale liquid structures within the boundary layer. The model is based on the application of a kinetic transport equation, similar to Boltzmann’s equation, and the idea that by selectively removing bubbles from the liquid eddies within the boundary layer, bubble capture at the wall introduces a preferential direction of migration and/or nonhomogeneous, anisotropic dispersion. This is the first model capable of predicting all the types of void fraction profiles observed experimentally for point injection. It is shown that without this new model, two-fluid model simulations fail to predict the experimental data. In addition, a new physical interpretation of the data of [1] and [2] is presented, which strongly suggests that the quantity controlling bubble migration toward the wall and bubble dispersion, is the boundary layer drift parameter (i.e., the ratio of the bubble’s terminal velocity to the free-stream liquid velocity).