Ansys Fluent - Multiphase - 2020R1 - WS03.1 - Bubble - Column

Ansys Fluent Multiphase Flow Modeling
Bubble Column
Release 2020 R1
© 2020 Ansys, Inc. Unauthorized use, distribution, or duplication is prohibited.

Introduction
• The purpose of this tutorial is to provide guidelines and recommendations for solving a
gas-liquid bubble column problem using the Eulerian multiphase model, including
advice on model and solver settings.
• This tutorial demonstrates how to do the following:
‐ Set up a transient bubble column
‐ Use the Eulerian multiphase model
‐ Solve the problem using appropriate solver settings
‐ Postprocess the resulting data
2 © 2020 Ansys, Inc. Unauthorized use, distribution, or duplication is prohibited.

Prerequisites
This tutorial is written with the assumption that you have completed Tutorial 1 from
Ansys Fluent Tutorial Guide, and that you are familiar with the Ansys Fluent tree and
ribbon structure. Some steps in the setup and solution procedure will not be shown
explicitly.

Problem Description
• The bubble column to be simulated is a 3D,

rectangular bubble column.
• Air with a superficial velocity of 0.01 m/s is

introduced through a sparger at the bottom
of the column.
‐ The details of the sparger geometry are not
modeled. Instead it is treated as a uniform inlet
surface with an area of 2e-4 m².
‐ The air bubbles are assumed to have a mean
diameter of 3 mm.
• The liquid in the column is water, and a
degassing boundary condition is used at the
outlet.

Problem Description
Outlet (Degassing)
• The bubble column to be simulated is a

3D, rectangular bubble column.
• Air with a superficial velocity of 0.01 Height of column 1.00 m

m/s is introduced through a sparger at Width of column 0.10 m
Depth of column 0.02 m
the bottom of the column.
Height of sparger 0.01 m
‐ The details of the sparger geometry are not Width of sparger 0.02 m
modeled. Instead it is treated as a uniform
inlet surface with an area of 2e-4 m².
‐ The air bubbles are assumed to have a mean
diameter of 3 mm.
• The liquid in the column is water, and a
degassing boundary condition is used at
the outlet / top of the column.
Inlet (Sparger)
Preparation
• Copy the file “bubble-col.msh.gz” to the working folder.

• Use the Fluent Launcher to start the 3D version of Ansys Fluent.
‐ Fluent Launcher displays your Display Options preferences from the previous session.
• Enable Double Precision and start Fluent in Solution mode
Note: It is recommended to use 4 processors if available.
• Read the mesh file (bubble-col.msh.gz).

File → Read → Mesh
‐ Note that a very coarse mesh has been used for this tutorial in order to allow the transient simulation
to be completed within a reasonable time. A mesh refinement study would likely show that a mesh
independent solution would not be obtained for this problem with the current mesh resolution.

General Settings and Operating Conditions
• Define a transient solution

Physics tab → Solver group
‐ Click General…, and select Transient on the task page.
• Set the operating conditions.

Physics tab → Solver group → Operating Conditions
‐ Enable Gravity and enter an expression of -g for
Gravitational Acceleration in the Y direction.
‐ Enable Specified Operating Density and retain the
default value of 1.225 kg/m3 for Operating Density.
‐ You can stick to the default operating density method "minimum-
phase-averaged". The least of the phase density will be considered
by default in this case, viz. 1.225 kg/m3
‐ Click OK to close the Operating Conditions dialog box.

Model Setup: Multiphase
• Select the Eulerian multiphase model.
Physics tab → Models group → Multiphase
‐ Select Eulerian from the Model list.

‐ Retain 2 for Number of Eulerian Phases.
‐ Click Apply and close the Multiphase Model
dialog box.

Model Setup: Turbulence
• Set the viscous model.
Physics tab → Models group → Viscous...
‐ Select Dispersed in the Turbulence Multiphase

Model group box.
‐ Retain the other default settings and close the
Viscous Model dialog box.

Materials
• Copy water from the database.
Physics tab → Materials → Create/Edit...
‐ Click Fluent Database... to open the Fluent Database Materials dialog box.
‐ Select water-liquid (h2o<l>) and click Copy and then Close.
‐ Retain the default property values and close the Create/Edit Materials dialog box.

Phases
• Open the Multiphase panel again and go to the Phases tab
‐ Rename the primary phase water and set the phase

material to water-liquid
‐ Rename the secondary phase air and set the
diameter to 0.003 m
‐ Click Apply

Phase Interaction (1)
• Go to the Phase Interaction tab
• Under Forces
‐ Select universal-drag for Drag Coefficient
‐ Select tomiyama for the Lift Coefficient
‐ Select antal-et-al for Wall Lubrication

Note: The Antal Model dialog box opens. Retain the default
settings and click OK to close the dialog box.
‐ Definition of phase interaction is continued on the

next slide

Phase Interaction (2) – Turbulent Dispersion
‐ In the Turbulent Dispersion menu, select

burns-et-al from the drop-down list in the
Turbulent Dispersion group box.
Note: The Burns-et-al Model dialog box opens. Retain
the default settings and click OK to close the dialog
box
‐ Definition of phase interaction

is continued on the next slide

Phase Interactions (3) – Turbulence Interaction
‐ In the Turbulent Interaction tab, select sato from the drop-down list in the Turbulent Interaction
group box.
Note: The Sato Model dialog box opens. Retain the default settings and click OK to close the dialog box.
‐ Definition of phase interaction is continued on the next slide

Phase Interactions (4) – Surface Tension
‐ In the Surface Tension tab, set Surface Tension Coefficients (n/m) for air water to constant and enter
0.072 for the value
Note: Surface Tension Force Modeling is not enabled. The value entered is used by the Tomiyama lift and Universal Drag model
that was activated for this problem
• Click Apply and then Close

Boundary Conditions: Inlet
Physics tab → Zones group → Boundaries
• In the Boundary Conditions task page select inlet.
‐ Select mixture from the Phase drop-down list and click Edit....
• Select Normal to Boundary from the Direction Specification Method drop-down list.
• Click OK to close the Mass-Flow Inlet dialog box.
‐ Select water from the Phase drop-down list and click the Edit... button to open the Mass-Flow Inlet
dialog box.
• Enter 0 for Mass Flow Rate (kg/s).
• Retain the other default settings and click OK to close the Mass-Flow Inlet dialog box.

Boundary Conditions: Inlet
‐ Select air from the Phase drop-down list and click the Edit... button to open the Mass-Flow Inlet dialog
box.
• Enter 2.37e-5 for Mass Flow Rate (kg/s).

• From the Slip Velocity Specification Method select Volume Fraction from the drop-down list.
• Enter 1 for Volume Fraction.
• Click OK to close the Mass-Flow Inlet dialog box.

Boundary Conditions: Degassing
• In the Boundary Conditions task page select outlet.

‐ Select mixture from the Phase drop-down list.
‐ Select degassing from the Type drop-down list to change from a pressure-outlet to a degassing boundary
Note: Degassing boundary condition allows the secondary phase to exit and behaves like a free slip surface for the primary phase.
‐ Click OK to close the Degassing dialog box that opens.
Note:
Retain the default settings for the outlet boundary conditions for Phases - air and water. No changes are needed at the phase level
on degassing boundaries.
All the wall boundary conditions will retain no-slip condition for both air and water. So no changes are necessary.

Solution Methods
• Retain default settings for Solution Controls.

• Set the solution methods.
Solution tab → Solution group → Methods...
‐ In the Solution Methods task page, select PRESTO! for

Pressure, Second Order for Momentum, Modified HRIC for
Volume Fraction, from the drop-down lists under Spatial
Discretization.
‐ Select Bounded Second Order Implicit from the Transient
Formulation drop-down list.

Residuals
• In the Residual Monitors dialog box set Iterations to Plot to 100.

‐ Solutions tab → Reports group → Residuals...

Report Definitions
• Create a Report Definition to monitor the

volume-average air phase volume fraction.
‐ Select a New > Volume Report of type Volume-

Average
‐ In the Volume Report Definition dialog box, enter
gas_holdup for Name.
‐ Enable Report File and Report Plot.
‐ Select Phases... and Volume Fraction from
the Field Variable drop-down lists.
‐ Select air from the Phase drop-down list.
‐ In the list of Cell Zones select fluid and click OK to
close the Volume Report Definition dialog box.

Initialization and Graphics Object Definitions
• Click Options… to open the Solution

Initialization task page
‐ In the Solution Initialization task page,
select inlet on the Compute from drop-
down list.
‐ Click Initialize
• Right click in the graphics window

and use the context menus to choose
Create → Surfaces → Iso-Surface...
‐ In the Iso-Surface dialog box, select
Mesh... and Z-Coordinate from the
Surface of Constant dropdown lists.
‐ Enter 0.01 for Iso-Values.
‐ Enter z-mid for New Surface Name.
‐ Click Create and close the Iso-Surface
dialog box.

Create Mesh Display Object
• Right click in the graphics window and use the context menu to choose
Create → Mesh Display...
‐ In the Mesh Display dialog box, select only Faces in the Options group box.
‐ From the list under Surfaces select only wall_side1 and wall_side_2.
‐ Click Save/Display and close the Mesh/Display dialog box..
‐ Similarly create another mesh object, selecting the zones inlet and wall_bottom, while keeping both
Faces and Edges enabled

Create Contour Object
• Right click in the graphics window and use

the context menu to choose
Create → Contour...
‐ Enable Filled under Options.
‐ Disable Auto Range and Clip to Range.
‐ Select Phases... and Volume fraction from the
Contours of drop-down lists.
‐ Enter 0 for Min and 0.5 for Max.
‐ From the list under Surfaces select z-mid.
‐ Click Save/Display and close the Contours dialog
box.

Create Scene
• Right click in the graphics window and use the context

menu to choose
Create → Scene...
‐ In the Scene dialog box that opens, under Graphics select the
check boxes for contour-1, mesh-1 and mesh-2.
‐ Set the Transparency of mesh-1 to about 85.
Note: Mesh-1 is the mesh object with wall_side1 and
wall_side2.
The transparency does not have to be the exact value, just
something close. You can experiment with other values to find
what you think has the best appearance.
‐ Click Save & Display and then you can close the Scene dialog
box.
‐ Check and experiment with the lighting.
• View tab → Display group
• You can enable/disable Headlight and Lighting to see what looks best.

Enable Autosave and Create Solution Animation
• Autosave for every 250-time steps.

Solution tab → Activities group → Autosave....
‐ In the Autosave dialog box, enter 250 for Save Data
File Every (Time Steps).
• Create solution animation.
Solution tab → Activities group → Create → Solution
Animations...
‐ Rename the animation object to air-vof-animation
‐ Enter 5 for Record after every.
Note: Setting the storage directory as "." will save the animation files
in the current working directory.
‐ Select scene-1 from the list under Animation Object.
‐ Re-orient the view as desired and click on Use Active
to save the animation in the set view.
‐ Click OK.

Begin Calculations
• Save the case and data files as bub_col.cas.h5
• In the Run Calculation task page, enter 0.02 for Time Step Size (s)
• Enter 500 for Number of Time Steps
• Click Calculate

Post-processing: Temporal Variation of Gas Holdup
• The plot from gas_holdup-rplot shows the initial transient startup behavior of the flow
has begun to stabilize.

Post-processing: Contours of Volume Fraction
• You can check the contours in the window of

Contours of Volume fraction (air).

Post-processing: Gas Volume Fraction Evolution over Time
t = 5 [s] t = 10 [s] t = 15 [s] t = 20 [s]

Post-processing: Water Velocity Vectors
• Right click in the graphics window and use

the context menu to select
Create → Vector...
‐ Select water from the Phase drop-down list.

‐ Select z-mid from the list of surfaces
‐ Click Save/Display
‐ Experiment with different options for vector style
‐ Depending on the vector style, it may be helpful to reduce
the value in the Scale field
‐ Start with a value of 1 and adjust accordingly

Post-processing: Air Velocity Vectors
• Create a second vector object for the air

phase velocity field

‐ Select z-mid from the list of surfaces
‐ Click Save/Display

Saving Animation Movie File
• Write .mpeg files from the animations.
Results tab → Animation group → Solution Playback...
‐ In the Playback dialog box, select animation-1 from the list under Animation Sequences.
‐ Select MPEG from the Write/Record Format drop-down list.
‐ Click Write.

Suggested Exercise (Optional)
Continue from the completed solution or read the provided case and data files. In many cases, the time
averaged behavior of the system is of interest. Time averaging can begin from t=0, but as the gas holdup
plot shows, there is often an initial transient period associated with start-up and it is usually desirable to
begin the time averaging only after the effects of the initial transient have faded. In this section, time
averaging will be performed for another 10 seconds and the time averaged profile of the air will be
plotted on a cross section 0.2 m above the bottom of the column.
• Right click in the graphics window and use the context menus to choose
Create → Surfaces → Iso-Surfaces...
• In the Iso-Surface dialog box, select Mesh... and Y-Coordinate from the Surface of Constant dropdown
lists.
• Enter 0.2 for Iso-Values.
• Enter y=0.2m for New Surface Name.
• Select z-mid from the list under From Surface.
• Click Create and close the Iso-Surface dialog box
Note: Fluent will then intersect y=0.2 with the z-mid surface, resulting in a line.
Data Sampling over Time
• In the Run Calculation task page,

enable Data Sampling for Time Statistics

Time-Averaged Gas Volume Fraction
• Add a new xy-plot.

Results tab → Plots group → XY Plot →
New...
‐ In the Solution XY Plot dialog box, enter vof-at-
y=0.2m for Name.
‐ Retain the values of 1,0,0 for X,Y, and Z respectively
under Plot Direction.
‐ Select Unsteady Statistics... and Mean Volume
Fraction from the Y Axis Function drop-down lists.
‐ Select y=0.2m from the list of Surfaces.
‐ Use the Axes setup panel to provide a fixed
maximum value of 0.16 under the plot Range
‐ Click Save/Plot and close the Solution XY Plot dialog
box.

Add an Animation and Continue the Calculation
• Add a new animation to monitor the progress of time averaged values.

Solution tab → Activities group → Create → Solution Animations...
‐ Enter gas-plot-animation for Name.
‐ Enter 5 for Record after every.
‐ Select vof-at-y=0.2m from the list under Animation Object.
‐ Click OK.
• Save the case and data files.

File → Write → Case & Data...
• Compute for another 500 time steps.

Solving → Run Calculation

Post-processing
• Check the gas_holdup-plot.

‐ Unsteady behavior remains evident, although a time-averaged value may approach a steady state
with the calculation of more time steps.
• View the animation of the xy-plot.

‐ The animation shows that the time-averaged volume fraction profile is settling towards stable values
on the line defined by y=0.2m.
• Write .mpegs for the vof contours and the xy-plot animations as described on Slide 31

Summary
• In this tutorial, a transient simulation of a rectangular bubble column was set up and
solved using the Eulerian multiphase model.
• The simulation time was reduced by using a time step that was probably too large and
a mesh that was probably too coarse to obtain a truly time step- and mesh-
independent solution.
• Animations are used to visualize the transient flow, from the initial introduction of gas
to the development of a sinuously oscillating bubble plume in the lower region of the
column and a more uniform bubble distribution in the upper region.
• A report definition was used to report and plot the gas hold up.
• Time-averaged values were computed and used to plot the air volume fraction at a
cross section of the column.

End of presentation

Ansys Fluent - Multiphase - 2020R1 - WS03.1 - Bubble - Column

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Ansys Fluent Multiphase Flow Modeling

© 2020 Ansys, Inc. Unauthorized use, distribution, or duplication is prohibited.

2 © 2020 Ansys, Inc. Unauthorized use, distribution, or duplication is prohibited.

3 © 2020 Ansys, Inc. Unauthorized use, distribution, or duplication is prohibited.

• The bubble column to be simulated is a 3D,

• Air with a superficial velocity of 0.01 m/s is

4 © 2020 Ansys, Inc. Unauthorized use, distribution, or duplication is prohibited.

• The bubble column to be simulated is a

• Air with a superficial velocity of 0.01 Height of column 1.00 m

• Copy the file “bubble-col.msh.gz” to the working folder.

• Read the mesh file (bubble-col.msh.gz).

6 © 2020 Ansys, Inc. Unauthorized use, distribution, or duplication is prohibited.

• Define a transient solution

• Set the operating conditions.

7 © 2020 Ansys, Inc. Unauthorized use, distribution, or duplication is prohibited.

• Select the Eulerian multiphase model.

Physics tab → Models group → Multiphase

‐ Select Eulerian from the Model list.

8 © 2020 Ansys, Inc. Unauthorized use, distribution, or duplication is prohibited.

• Set the viscous model.

Physics tab → Models group → Viscous...

‐ Select Dispersed in the Turbulence Multiphase

9 © 2020 Ansys, Inc. Unauthorized use, distribution, or duplication is prohibited.

• Copy water from the database.

Physics tab → Materials → Create/Edit...

10 © 2020 Ansys, Inc. Unauthorized use, distribution, or duplication is prohibited.

• Open the Multiphase panel again and go to the Phases tab

‐ Rename the primary phase water and set the phase

11 © 2020 Ansys, Inc. Unauthorized use, distribution, or duplication is prohibited.

• Go to the Phase Interaction tab

‐ Select tomiyama for the Lift Coefficient

‐ Select antal-et-al for Wall Lubrication

‐ Definition of phase interaction is continued on the

12 © 2020 Ansys, Inc. Unauthorized use, distribution, or duplication is prohibited.

‐ In the Turbulent Dispersion menu, select

‐ Definition of phase interaction

13 © 2020 Ansys, Inc. Unauthorized use, distribution, or duplication is prohibited.

‐ Definition of phase interaction is continued on the next slide

14 © 2020 Ansys, Inc. Unauthorized use, distribution, or duplication is prohibited.

• Click Apply and then Close

15 © 2020 Ansys, Inc. Unauthorized use, distribution, or duplication is prohibited.

Physics tab → Zones group → Boundaries

• In the Boundary Conditions task page select inlet.

16 © 2020 Ansys, Inc. Unauthorized use, distribution, or duplication is prohibited.

• Enter 2.37e-5 for Mass Flow Rate (kg/s).

17 © 2020 Ansys, Inc. Unauthorized use, distribution, or duplication is prohibited.

• In the Boundary Conditions task page select outlet.

‐ Click OK to close the Degassing dialog box that opens.

18 © 2020 Ansys, Inc. Unauthorized use, distribution, or duplication is prohibited.

• Retain default settings for Solution Controls.

‐ In the Solution Methods task page, select PRESTO! for

19 © 2020 Ansys, Inc. Unauthorized use, distribution, or duplication is prohibited.

• In the Residual Monitors dialog box set Iterations to Plot to 100.

20 © 2020 Ansys, Inc. Unauthorized use, distribution, or duplication is prohibited.

• Create a Report Definition to monitor the

‐ Select a New > Volume Report of type Volume-

21 © 2020 Ansys, Inc. Unauthorized use, distribution, or duplication is prohibited.

• Click Options… to open the Solution

• Right click in the graphics window

22 © 2020 Ansys, Inc. Unauthorized use, distribution, or duplication is prohibited.

23 © 2020 Ansys, Inc. Unauthorized use, distribution, or duplication is prohibited.

• Right click in the graphics window and use