An Impact of the Discrete Representation of the Bubble Size Distribution Function on the Flow Structure in a Bubble Column Reactor

The purpose of the present study is to analyze the effect of different discrete representations of the continuous bubble size distribution function on the flow structure in a bubble column reactor. Poly- and monodisperse media were considered, such that the mathematical expectation of the bubble size in the polydisperse case was equal to the bubble size in the monodisperse case at the same volumetric bubble contents. For these computations the normalized variances of the velocity profiles of the carrier and the disperse phases, the volume fraction of the disperse phase, and the specific area of the interfacial surface were determined. The normalized variances were calculated from a reference scenario with a detailed resolution of the bubble size distribution function with ten bubble classes. It was shown that with increase of the average bubble sizes mono- and polydisperse approaches provide converging solutions. A modified hybrid discretization of the bubble size distribution function with four classes of bubbles was shown to predict the flow structure with normalized variance less than 5% over the entire computational domain for all monitored parameters.