Partial elimination has been implemented for the multiphase Euler-Euler
solver. This does a linear solution of the drag system when calculating
flux and velocity corrections after the solution of the pressure
equation. This can improve the behaviour of the solution in the event
that the drag coupling is high. It is controlled by means of a
"partialElimination" switch within the PIMPLE control dictionary in
fvSolution.
A re-organisation has also been done in order to remove the exposure of
the sub-modelling from the top-level solver. Rather than looping the
drag, virtual mass, lift, etc..., models directly, the solver now calls
a set of phase-system methods which group the different force terms.
These new methods are documented in MomentumTransferPhaseSystem.H. Many
other accessors have been removed as a consequence of this grouping.
A bug was also fixed whereby the face-based algorithm was not
transferring the momentum associated with a given interfacial mass
transfer.
This formulation provides C-grid like pressure-flux staggering on an
unstructured mesh which is hugely beneficial for Euler-Euler multiphase
equations as it allows for all forces to be treated in a consistent
manner on the cell-faces which provides better balance, stability and
accuracy. However, to achieve face-force consistency the momentum
transport terms must be interpolated to the faces reducing accuracy of
this part of the system but this is offset by the increase in accuracy
of the force-balance.
Currently it is not clear if this face-based momentum equation
formulation is preferable for all Euler-Euler simulations so I have
included it on a switch to allow evaluation and comparison with the
previous cell-based formulation. To try the new algorithm simply switch
it on, e.g.:
PIMPLE
{
nOuterCorrectors 3;
nCorrectors 1;
nNonOrthogonalCorrectors 0;
faceMomentum yes;
}
It is proving particularly good for bubbly flows, eliminating the
staggering patterns often seen in the air velocity field with the
previous algorithm, removing other spurious numerical artifacts in the
velocity fields and improving stability and allowing larger time-steps
For particle-gas flows the advantage is noticeable but not nearly as
pronounced as in the bubbly flow cases.
Please test the new algorithm on your cases and provide feedback.
Henry G. Weller
CFD Direct
