Theoretical and Experimental Studies of Aerosol Particle Drag Mixing in Turbulent Flow
Open Access
Author:
Wittenstein, Jason Paul
Graduate Program:
Mechanical Engineering
Degree:
Master of Science
Document Type:
Master Thesis
Date of Defense:
June 18, 2012
Committee Members:
Daniel Connell Haworth, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor Joseph John Cor, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor Timothy Miller, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Keywords:
Particle Mixing Aluminum Aerosol Turbulent
Abstract:
An experimental and theoretical study of the mixing of aerosol particles with high-pressure gas under turbulent conditions to further the understanding of two-phase mixing is conducted. The Applied Research Laboratory has acquired laboratory characterizations of small-scale mixing, and these data are used as the basis for drag model development for a theoretical CFD study of two-phase mixing. This computational study focuses on gas-particle drag models, which are a critical part of accurately describing mixing phenomena in turbulent flow. The drag forces acting on the particles determine their entrainment relative to the gas medium, and determine how quickly they adjust to changes in the gas they are contained in. The availability of experimental data allows for testing of existing and refined drag models for their application to high-pressure, turbulent flow.
Comparisons were made between three model formulations: single-phase, multi-phase, and Lagrangian analysis. In each case, results from a constant-drag-coefficient model were compared with those from a refined drag model, and model results were compared with experimental data. The refined drag models better predicted the spread angle of the aluminum particles, but overall under-predicted the recirculation radius compared to the constant-coefficient drag models.