Premium
Three‐Dimensional Simulation of Hydrodynamics in a Rotating Disc Contactor using Computational Fluid Dynamics
Author(s) -
GhaniyariBenis S.,
Hedayat N.,
Ziyari A.,
Kazemzadeh M.,
Shafiee M.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
chemical engineering and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.403
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1521-4125
pISSN - 0930-7516
DOI - 10.1002/ceat.200800391
Subject(s) - turbulence , mechanics , computational fluid dynamics , drag , buoyancy , drop (telecommunication) , large eddy simulation , fluid dynamics , physics , chemistry , engineering , mechanical engineering
Abstract The 3D simulation of the hydrodynamic behavior of a rotating disc contactor (RDC) by means of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was investigated for the n‐butanol‐succinic acid‐water (BSW) system. For the two‐phase liquid‐liquid flow, the velocity distribution of the continuous phase and drop size distributions were determined using the k –ω turbulence model in conjunction with the Eulerian‐Eulerian approach and MUSIG model. In this system in which the holdup of the dispersed phase is low, the continuous phase velocity was computed by simultaneously solving the Navier‐Stokes equations beside the different models of turbulence. The motions of the dispersed phase was calculated while considering buoyancy, drag and inertia forces, and equations related to the continuous and dispersed phases were coupled to each other by considering the momentum transfer on the interface and the effect of drop motions in turbulence. In this simulation, by considering drops' breakage, their path, the velocity profile, and also the velocity contour plot of the dispersed phase were obtained. A comparison of the holdup experimental values with the results predicted by CFD showed that the k –ω model is the best descriptive model for the computation of holdup in a RDC.