Unsteady Euler/Lagrange simulation of a confined bluff-body gas-solid turbulent flow

An unsteady Euler-Lagrangian approach is adopted to predict the gaseous carrier and disperse phases flow dynamics. The turbulence is captured using two different methods, i.e. the unsteady Reynolds averaging based numerical simulation (URANS) and the large eddy simulation (LES). In the latter one, the dynamic Smagorinsky approach is used to model the sub-grid scale stresses. The time-dependent solid particle and gas phase flow properties of a confined bluff-body turbulent flow including two-way coupling effects are evaluated through comparisons with experimental data. The configuration under study features an important recirculation zone and has a mass loading of 22%. So, collision effects are not considered while tracking the disperse phase that consists of glass beads. A thermodynamically consistent turbulence modulation approach is applied for the determination of the source terms that account for the effect of particles on the turbulence level of the carrier phase. Within the URANS technique the dispersion of particles is captured by the Markov sequence approach; this model is modified by integrating a drift factor term while modeling the pressure gradient. A particular emphasis is put on the disperse phase feedback on the carrier phase and coupling procedure within each Eulerian time step along with an unsteady coupling of both codes, the (Eulerian) FASTEST3D and the (Lagrangian) LAG3D codes. Quantitative results of the disperse phase properties as well as those of the carrier phase are presented at different positions around the recirculation zone. The numerical results using both, the LES and/or the URANS delivered comparable results that agree reasonably with experimental data. However, a slight advantage of LES over URANS could be observed.