Multi-Size Particulate Flow through Rotating Channel — Modeling and Validation Using Three Turbulence Models

A comparison of three turbulence models in modeling and validating dense multi-size particulate flow through rotating channel is presented. All the three turbulence models incoporate a rotation modification to the production term in the turbulent kinetic energy equation. In the first model, rotation-modified k – ε equations are used to compute the eddy viscosity of pure carrier which is then modified for the presence of particles. In the other two models, rotation-modified k_m – ε_m equations are solved for the mixture directly. The eddy viscosities are then computed from k_m and ε_m. The predicted results of all three models show excellent mesh independence. The coarsest mesh satisfied the mass conservation to within 0.1%. The code based on pure carrier-phase eddy viscosity (modified for concentration) is computationally 2–3 times more efficient than the other two (mixture-based) models. The predicted results using all three turbulence models are compared against applicable experimental results in the open literature. Regression between the computed and experimental results shows excellent agreement between the two.