Study of turbulent wavy annular flow inside a 3.4 mm diameter vertical channel by using the Volume of Fluid method in OpenFOAM

Journal Article (2024)
Author(s)

E. Zanetti (TU Delft - Heat Transformation Technology)

Arianna Berto (Università degli Studi di Padova)

S. Bortolin (Università degli Studi di Padova)

M. Magnini (University of Nottingham)

Davide Del Col (Università degli Studi di Padova)

Research Group
Heat Transformation Technology
DOI related publication
https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/2766/1/012067
More Info
expand_more
Publication Year
2024
Language
English
Research Group
Heat Transformation Technology
Issue number
1
Volume number
2766
Reuse Rights

Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.

Abstract

In annular downward flow, an annular liquid film flows at the perimeter of the channel pushed down by the gravity force and by the shear stress that the vapor core exerts on it. Depending on the working conditions, the vapor-liquid interface can be flat or rippled by waves. The knowledge of the liquid film thickness is very important for the study of annular flow condensation because the thermal resistance of the liquid is often the most important parameter controlling the heat transfer. A new approach for the simulation of annular flow is here proposed using an in-house developed transient solver based on the Volume of Fluid (VOF) adiabatic solver interIsoFoam available in OpenFOAM. With the VOF method, in addition to the standard set of equations (continuity and momentum), a transport equation related to the advection of the volume fraction scalar field has to be solved. The numerical setup consists of 2D axisymmetric domain. An adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) method is added to the solver to better capture the interface position. The k-ω SST model is used for turbulence modelling in both the liquid and vapor phases and a source term (whose magnitude is controlled by a model parameter named B) is included in the ω equation to damp the turbulence at the interface.