Large Eddy Simulation of Particle Agglomeration with Shear Breakup in Turbulent Channel Flow

A systematic technique is developed for studying particle dynamics as induced by a turbulent liquid flow, in which transport, agglomeration, and breakup are considered. An Eulerian description of the carrier phase obtained using large eddy simulation is adopted and fully coupled to a Lagrangian definition of the particle phase using a pointwise discrete particle simulation. An efficient hard-sphere interaction model with deterministic collision detection enhanced with an energy-balance agglomeration model was implemented in an existing computational fluid dynamic code for turbulent multiphase flow. The breakup model adopted allows instantaneous breakup to occur once the transmitted hydrodynamic stress within an agglomerate exceeds a critical value, characterised by a fractal dimension and the size of the agglomerate. The results from the developed technique support the conclusion that the local turbulence kinetic energy, its dissipation rate, and the agglomerate fractal dimension control the kinetics of the agglomeration and de-agglomeration processes, and as well as defining with time the morphology of the particles and their resultant transport. Overall, the results are credible and consistent with the expected physical behavior and with known theories.