CFD simulations of hydrodynamic/thermal coupling phenomena in a bubble column with internals

Abstract : CFD simulations have been carried out in a full three-dimensional, unsteady, Eulerian framework to simulate hydrodynamic/thermal coupling in a bubble column with internals. A first part of the study, dedicated to the hydrodynamic/thermal coupling in liquid single-phase flows, showed that assuming constant wall temperature on the internals constitutes a reasonable approximation in lieu of comprehensive simulations encompassing shell flow and coolant flow together. A second part dealing with the hydrodynamics of gas-liquid flows in a bubble column with internals showed that a RNG k-epsilon turbulence model formulation accounting for gas-induced turbulence was a relevant choice. The last part used these conclusions to build a hydrodynamic/thermal coupling model of a gas-liquid flow in a bubble column with internals. With a per-phase RNG k-epsilon turbulence model and assuming constant wall temperature, it was possible to simulate heat transfer phenomena consistent with experimentally measured heat transfer coefficients.