Development of a Combined Euler-Euler Euler-Lagrange Slurry Model

There has been a significant amount of work on modelling erosion caused by slurries, however, these studies are normally focused on low concentrations. The reason for this is usually that dense slurries are too computationally expensive to model in the Euler-Lagrange frame. This presentation suggests a novel solution for reducing computational effort using OpenFOAM to combine two solvers. The two phases of the bulk flow are modelled, partially in the Eulerian-Eulerian reference frame, and partially in the Eulerian-Lagrangian frame. The method aims to increase computational efficiency, but still keep the necessary particle impact data at the wall required for erosion modelling. The new model consists of splitting the domain into two regions and using patch interpolation to couple them together. The particles are then injected into the second region by using the values of the second Eulerian phase from the first region. The values of the second Eulerian phase are written at every time step to a lookupTable, enabling the solver to be used in conjunction with geometry changes, etc., as in Lopez's work (Lopez in LPT for erosion modelling in OpenFOAM 2014, [1]). If the process can be validated, it provides a promising step towards modelling dense slurry erosion.