LAPSE:2020.0387
Published Article
LAPSE:2020.0387
Isolated Taylor Bubbles in Co-Current with Shear Thinning CMC Solutions in Microchannels—A Numerical Study
Ana I. Moreira, Luís A. M. Rocha, João Carneiro, José D. P. Araújo, João B. L. M. Campos, João M. Miranda
April 14, 2020
Slug flow is a multiphase flow pattern characterized by the occurrence of long gas bubbles (Taylor bubbles) separated by liquid slugs. This multiphase flow regime is present in many and diversified natural and industrial processes, at macro and microscales, such as in eruption of volcanic magmas, oil recovery from pre-salt regions, micro heat exchangers, and small-sized refrigerating systems. Previous studies in the literature have been mostly focused on tubular gas bubbles flowing in Newtonian liquids. In this work, results from several numerical simulations of tubular gas bubbles flowing in a shear thinning liquid in microchannels are reported. To simulate the shear thinning behavior, carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) solutions with different concentrations were considered. The results are compared with data from bubbles flowing in Newtonian liquids in identical geometric and dynamic conditions. The numerical work was carried out in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) package Ansys Fluent (release 16.2.0) employing the volume of fluid (VOF) methodology to track the volume fraction of each phase and the continuum surface force (CSF) model to insert the surface tension effects. The flow patterns, the viscosity distribution in the liquid, the liquid film thickness between the bubble and the wall, and the bubbles shape are analyzed for a wide range of shear rates. In general, the flow patterns are similar to those in Newtonian liquids, but in the film, where a high viscosity region is observed, the thickness is smaller. Bubble velocities are smaller for the non-Newtonian cases.
Keywords
carboxymethylcellulose solutions, Computational Fluid Dynamics, microfluidics, shear thinning fluids, Taylor bubbles, volume of fluid method
Suggested Citation
Moreira AI, Rocha LAM, Carneiro J, Araújo JDP, Campos JBLM, Miranda JM. Isolated Taylor Bubbles in Co-Current with Shear Thinning CMC Solutions in Microchannels—A Numerical Study. (2020). LAPSE:2020.0387
Author Affiliations
Moreira AI: CEFT—Transport Phenomena Research Center, Chemical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
Rocha LAM: Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0AS, UK
Carneiro J: CEFT—Transport Phenomena Research Center, Chemical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
Araújo JDP: CEFT—Transport Phenomena Research Center, Chemical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
Campos JBLM: CEFT—Transport Phenomena Research Center, Chemical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
Miranda JM: CEFT—Transport Phenomena Research Center, Chemical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal [ORCID]
Journal Name
Processes
Volume
8
Issue
2
Article Number
E242
Year
2020
Publication Date
2020-02-20
Published Version
ISSN
2227-9717
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Original Submission
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PII: pr8020242, Publication Type: Journal Article
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LAPSE:2020.0387
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doi:10.3390/pr8020242
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Apr 14, 2020
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Calvin Tsay
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