On the prediction of an average droplet size evolution during transport in homogeneous porous media under laminar flow conditions


Authors
F.A. Coutelieris
Publication Year
2010
Journal Name
J. Porous Media
Volume
13
Pages
195-207
Citations
1
Research Area
Modelling of Transport Processes

Abstract:
This paper deals with the prediction of a spatially averaged droplet size during transport within homogeneous porous media. More precisely, this transport process occurs in a mixture of a continuous aqueous phase which includes a discontinuous one in the form of droplets. The mixture flows in a homogeneous porous medium under laminar flow conditions. The collection of γ-order moments, Sγ, is used here to describe the time evolution of the spatially averaged mean diameter of spherical droplets, mainly because Sγ satisfies the convective/diffusive transient transport equation. As it is well known, break-up and coalescence are the primary local phenomena controlling the size of droplets in such a process. The essence of the so-called “Sγ concept” is that break-up and coalescence processes determine the source terms in a transport equation for the moments of an averaged characteristic size, representative for the droplet size. The velocity vector at any point is calculated by typical CFD simulations. The assumptions made are that (a) the flow conditions correspond to low Reynolds number, (b) the local flow field is independent on the droplets, thus the droplets’ size is small enough compared with the mean pore diameter and (c) the liquid/solid interfaces are chemically neutral. Since the proposed constitutive model adequately simulates the droplet transport process, it is used here for the investigation of the effect of the porous geometry and the flow characteristics on the droplets size.
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