Simulation of phase separation in a Van der Waals fluid under gravitational force with Lattice Boltzmann method
International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow
ISSN: 0961-5539
Article publication date: 7 June 2019
Issue publication date: 11 September 2019
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to assess the accuracy of Lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) for numerical simulation of the stratification of a Van der Waals (VdW) fluid subjected to a gravity field and non-uniform temperature distribution. A sensitivity analysis of the influence of the pseudopotential parameters and the grid resolution is presented. The effect of gravity force on interface densities, density profiles and liquid volume fraction is studied.
Design/methodology/approach
The D2Q9 multiple-relaxation-time pseudopotential LBM for two-phase flow is proposed to simulate the phase separation. The analytical solution for density profiles in a one-dimensional problem is derived and used as a benchmark case to validate the numerical results.
Findings
The numerical results reproduce the analytical density profiles with great accuracy over a wide range of simulation conditions, including variations of the gravity and temperature fields. Particularly, the numerical simulations are able to represent the effect of gravity on the existence and position of the liquid–vapor boundary of an ideal pure substance in thermodynamic equilibrium. The sensitivity of the results to variations of the calibration parameters of the VdW pseudopotential was assessed.
Research limitations/implications
The numerical simulations were performed assuming a VdW fluid in a 2-D cavity with one periodic direction for which analytical solutions for benchmarking purposes are possible to obtain.
Originality/value
The following fundamental question is addressed: Is the pseudopotential LBM capable of simulating accurately the liquid–vapor equilibrium under gravity forces and temperature gradients? Moreover, regarding that the pseudopotential model requires the calibration of several internal parameters to achieve thermodynamic consistency, the sensitivity of the results to variations of these parameters is assessed.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by grants from Universidad Nacional de Cuyo (PB 2017-2019), from ANPCyT-FONCyT (PICT 201-0937 and 2016-0441), and from CONICET (PIP 112 201301-00829 CO).
Citation
Fogliatto, E.O., Clausse, A. and Teruel, F.E. (2019), "Simulation of phase separation in a Van der Waals fluid under gravitational force with Lattice Boltzmann method", International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, Vol. 29 No. 9, pp. 3095-3109. https://doi.org/10.1108/HFF-11-2018-0682
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited