Modelling of two-phase flow in a minichannel using level-set method

Abstract

Today there is a great interest in micro-scale multiphase fluid flow. In the paper, the numerical simulation of two-phase flow inside 3 mm minichannel was carried out. The liquid- gas interface was captured using the level-set method. During the calculation, the stabilization and reinitialization of level set function was performed in order to obtain the proper accuracy of the simulation. Incompressible Navier-Stokes equations were solved using the COMSOL Multiphysics® on a two-dimensional mesh. The process of formation of different two-phase flow patterns in the minichannel has been investigated. During the simulation it has been analysed three flow patterns: the bubbly flow and two kinds of slug flow with short and long slugs. It has been shown that unsteady flow at the inlet of the minichannel is responsible for the chaotic character of changes of the slug and bubble sizes. Such unsteady flow modifies the distance between the bubbles and slugs. It has been shown that for the low water inlet velocity the two-phase flow pattern becomes more stable.