An Eulerian/Lagrangian multiphase coupling algorithm for fluid particulate systems using arbitrary polyhedral mesh topologies

An Eulerian/Lagrangian multiphase coupling algorithm is proposed. The design of the algorithm targets industrial scale modeling efforts which utilize arbitrary polyhedral/polygonal control volume mesh topologies. The traditional Eulerian/Lagrangian modeling technique is reviewed followed by a presentation of three key changes to the algorithm which improve its applicability to industrial type applications with strong multiphase coupling forces. A new Eulerian reference frame momentum/continuity coupling method is presented. The proposed momentum/continuity coupling method is based on the SIMPLE algorithm and is shown to significantly improve solution stability for multiphase applications. A high quality and efficient colocated control volume interpolation technique is presented for polyhedral/polygonal mesh topologies. The interpolation technique is shown to provide interpolated fluid properties which mimic the fundamental fluid characteristics intended by the Eulerian control volume discretization. The concept of influence and dependence is introduced to form a consistent coupling technique for transferring forces between the Eulerian and Lagrangian reference frames. A mapping method is proposed for transferring the Lagrangian coupling forces to the Eulerian reference such that only the Eulerian control volumes which influence the Lagrangian particle path are influenced by the Lagrangian particle force. The benefits of each proposed method is discussed in isolation followed by an application of the comprehensive algorithm. A challenging multiphase gas/particulate industrial scale application is selected for evaluating the comprehensive algorithm. The stability of the proposed algorithm is shown to perform better than the most widely used and frequently referenced commercial implementation of the Eulerian/Lagrangian algorithm.