In this paper, we present a number of key numerical methods that can be used to study elongated particles in fluid flows, with a specific emphasis on fluidised beds. Fluidised beds are frequently used for the production of biofuels, bioenergy, and other products from biomass particles, which often have an approximate elongated shape. This raises numerous issues in a numerical approach such as particle-particle contact detection and the accurate description of the various hydrodynamic forces, such as drag, lift, and torque, that elongated particles experience when moving in a fluid flow. The modelling is further complicated by a separation of length scales where industrial flow structures that can extend for many metres evolve subject to solid-solid and solid-fluid interactions at the millimetre scale. As a result, it is impossible to simulate both length scales using the same numerical approach, and a multiscale approach is necessary. First, we outline the direct numerical simulation (DNS) approach that may be employed to estimate hydrodynamic force closures for elongated particles in a fluid flow. We then describe the key aspects of a CFD-DEM approach, which can be used to simulate laboratory scale fluidisation processes, that must be addressed to study elongated particles. Finally, we briefly consider how current industrial-scale models, which concretely assume particle sphericity, could be adapted for the simulation of large collections of elongated particles subject to fluidisation.

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We study the hydrodynamic forces acting on a fixed particle close to a corrugated wall experiencing tangential fluid flow, using the lattice Boltzmann method. To carry out a fundamental analysis, a single two-dimensional circular particle near a sinusoidal wall is selected as a case study. The influence of the particle distance from the wall, the particle Reynolds number, corrugation amplitude, and downstream particle position (relative to a corrugation-peak) on the drag, lift and torque acting on the particle are investigated. Our simulations reveal that the hydrodynamic forces change significantly by changing the particle distance from the wall. Even the direction of forces and torque may change, depending on the distance from the wall, downstream particle position and Re_p number. We find an increase in magnitude of forces and torque by increasing the corrugation amplitude of the wall.

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While various multiphase flow simulation techniques have found acceptance as predictive tools for processes involving immiscible fluids, none of them can be considered universally applicable. Focusing on accurate simulation of liquid-liquid emulsions at the scale of droplets, we present a comparative assessment of the single-component multiphase pseudopotential lattice Boltzmann method (PP-LB, classical and modified) and the Volume of Fluid method (VOF, classical and modified), highlighting particular strengths and weaknesses of these techniques. We show that a modified LB model produces spurious velocities 1–3 orders of magnitude lower than all VOF models tested, and find that LB is roughly 10 times faster in computation time, while VOF is more versatile. Simulating falling liquid droplets, a realistic problem, we find that despite identical setups, results can vary with the technique in certain flow regimes. At lower Reynolds numbers, all methods agree reasonably well with experimental values. At higher Reynolds numbers, all methods underpredict the droplet Reynolds number, while being in good agreement with each other. Particular issues regarding LB simulations at low density ratio are emphasized. Finally, we conclude with the applicability of VOF vis-à-vis PP-LB for a general range of multiphase flow problems relevant to myriad applications.

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Gas-solid granular flows with non-spherical particles occur in many engineering applications such as fluidized beds. Such flows are usually contained by solid walls and always some particles move close to a wall. The proximity of a wall considerably affects the flow fields and changes the hydrodynamic forces and torque acting on particles moving near the wall. In this paper, we numerically investigate the drag, lift and torque acting on a non-spherical particle in the vicinity of a planar wall by means of lattice Boltzmann simulations. To gain an exhaustive understanding of the complex hydrodynamics and study the influence of various geometrical and flow parameters, a single 2D elliptical particle is selected as our case study. In the simulations, the effect of particle Reynolds number, distance to the wall, orientation angle and aspect ratio on drag, lift and torque is studied. Our study shows that the presence of a wall causes significant changes in hydrodynamic forces, with increasing or decreasing drag and lift forces, depending on the distance from the wall. Even the direction of lift and torque may change, depending on both the distance from the wall and particle orientation angle. Also, an ellipse with higher AR experiences larger hydrodynamic forces and torque whatever the gap size and orientation angle.

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In this paper, the lattice Boltzmann method is applied to investigate the effects of uniform vertical magnetic field on thermo-hydrodynamics of nanofluid in a partially porous channel. Cu-water nanofluid with constant pressure gradient is forced to flow into the channel while the top wall is heated by constant heat flux and bottom wavy wall of the channel is insulated against heat. The porous media is modeled using the Brinkman–Forchheimer model. Good agreements with the previous results verify that the selected numerical method is a capable method for simulating magnetic fluids in a porous media. The effects of active parameters, i.e. solid volume fraction of nanoparticles, pressure gradient, magnetic field and permeability of the porous layer, on thermo-hydrodynamics of flow are examined. The results reveal that the Nusselt number is an increasing function of nanoparticle volume fraction, Hartmann number, pressure gradient and Darcy number, although the effect of Darcy numbers and pressure gradient on the temperature profile are more noticeable than others.

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Various curved no-slip boundary conditions available in literature improve the accuracy of lattice Boltzmann simulations compared to the traditional staircase approximation of curved geometries. Usually, the required unknown distribution functions emerging from the solid nodes are computed based on the known distribution functions using interpolation or extrapolation schemes. On using such curved boundary schemes, there will be mass loss or gain at each time step during the simulations, especially apparent at high Reynolds numbers, which is called mass leakage. Such an issue becomes severe in periodic flows, where the mass leakage accumulation would affect the computed flow fields over time. In this paper, we examine mass leakage of the most well-known curved boundary treatments for high-Reynolds-number flows. Apart from the existing schemes, we also test different forced mass conservation schemes and a constant density scheme. The capability of each scheme is investigated and, finally, recommendations for choosing a proper boundary condition scheme are given for stable and accurate simulations.

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In this paper, the thermo-hydrodynamics of Al2O3-water nanofluid in a wavy U-turn channel with hot walls is numerically investigated by means of lattice Boltzmann modeling. At first, the numerical technique is validated by simulating fluid flow in a (non-)wavy straight channel. Then, the effects of various active parameters, e.g. pressure gradient in the channel, nanoparticles volume fraction, and number of sinusoidal waves along the channel, on the flow field and heat transfer is studied. Furthermore, the thermal–hydraulic performance factor is determined to investigate whether heat transfer enhancement outweighs the greater frictional losses caused by both complex wavy wall geometry and nanoparticles. The results show that the heat transfer rises by increasing pressure gradient in the channel while drops by increasing number of waves. Also, the effect of nanoparticles volume fraction on dimensionless Nusselt number becomes more pronounced at higher pressure gradients. The results indicate that the thermal–hydraulic performance factor grows by increasing nanoparticles volume fraction or decreasing the number of waves.@en

The lattice Boltzmann method is carried out to investigate the heat transfer enhancement in a U-turn duct which is partially filled with a porous media. The porous layer is inserted at the core of the duct and is modeled using the Brinkman–Forchheimer assumptions. In order to validate the results, first a channel flow problem without any porous layer is compared with available data. Second, the porous Couette flow and partially porous channel flow are successfully compared with the studies of other researchers. Then, fluid flow in a clear U-turn duct is studied looking carefully at the velocity, curvature and rotation effects. Finally, the effects of porous layer thickness on the rate of heat transfer and pressure drop are investigated. Parametric studies are conducted to evaluate the effects of various parameters (i.e., Reynolds number, Darcy number, rotation number), highlighting their influences on the thermo-hydrodynamics behavior of the flow. The optimum values of porous layer thickness are presented for specific flow parameters.

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In this paper, the thermohydrodynamics of an evaporating droplet is investigated by using a single-component pseudopotential lattice Boltzmann model. The phase change is applied to the model by adding source terms to the thermal lattice Boltzmann equation in such a way that the macroscopic energy equation of multiphase flows is recovered. In order to gain an exhaustive understanding of the complex hydrodynamics during evaporation, a single droplet is selected as a case study. At first, some tests for a stationary (non-)evaporating droplet are carried out to validate the method. Then the model is used to study the thermohydrodynamics of a falling evaporating droplet. The results show that the model is capable of reproducing the flow dynamics and transport phenomena of a stationary evaporating droplet quite well. Of course, a moving droplet evaporates faster than a stationary one due to the convective transport. Our study shows that our single-component model for simulating a moving evaporating droplet is limited to low Reynolds numbers.

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Conference papers
Mukherjee, S., Zarghami, A., Haringa, C., Kenjeres, S., van den Akker, H.E.A., A comparative assessment of Lattice Boltzmann and Volume of Fluid (VOF) approaches for generic multiphase problems, ICMF 2016 – 9th conference on multiphase flows, may 22-77 2016, Firenze, Italy@en