Numerical Simulation of Taylor Bubble Formation in Micro-channel by MPS Method

Moving Particle Semi-implicit (MPS) method uses particles and their interactions to simulate incompressible flow and it is a promising meshless method for multiphase flow simulation. In order to simulate the micro-bubble generation in micro-channel, surface tension model in MPS is improved by introducing fourth order central difference scheme for the calculation of unit normal vector. Numerical results for the oscillation of macro and micro droplets are in good agreement with theoretical prediction, which confirmed the validation of our model. By introducing the improved surface tension model into MPS method, the micro-bubble generation in T-shaped micro-channel was simulated successfully. The reasonable agreement between numerical simulations with visualization experiment confirmed the capacity of MPS with the improved surface tension model for the microgravity or micro-scale two-phase flow, which is dominated by surface tension effect. Finally, micro-bubble generations in different micro-channels are simulated. It is found that bubble size will decrease with increasing liquid flow rate and increase with increasing gas flow rate. Compared with 45A degrees bifurcation micro-channel, T-shaped micro-channel can generate bubble smaller and faster.