Multiphase particle simulation of gas bubble passing through liquid/liquid interfaces

Abstract

A newly developed computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model based on a multi-phase particle method is presented for predicting the entrainment behavior of liquid metal into slag due to rising single bubble. By comparing results calculated using this model against experimental data, it was found that the transient behavior of bubbles and the two immiscible liquids can be accurately estimated by this method. The rupturing of the thin water film surrounding the bubble was less reliably predicted, but this 3-dimensional unsteady numerical model still nevertheless provides valuable new information for directly predicting the change in the liquid/liquid interface over time. Such prediction of continuous change in an interface has not been possible by more conventional methods, and thus further improvement in the accuracy of this simulated model may well be the only way to non-empirically predict the metal-slag interface area in actual processes.