Intermediate scales between simulation and modeling of two-phase flows

Phenomena related to two-phase flows in an experiment in which air is injected in the lower part of a tank filled with water are investigated, via the SIMMER-IV software. The Reynolds and Weber numbers of the bubbly flow have high values. Small scale phenomena, related to small bubbles behavior or turbulence in the liquid continuous phase, are modeled via classical closure laws. An attempt to represent the formation of individual large bubbles, close to the injector, via direct simulation is done. In a first calculation, the large bubbles break-up is not represented. This phenomenon, the space scale of which is close to the cell size, cannot be simulated, with the present computational resources. Nevertheless, relatively fine meshes are used, for an accurate description of hydrodynamical phenomena, and these phenomena are too large to be modeled via closure laws. The case is therefore useful to underline some basic limits in the potentialities of direct simulation and modeling and to propose an attempt to face the problem. The breakup of bubbles is now represented. Finally the validity of the approach is checked directly by simulating a single bubble experiment. The problem of the convergence between multiphase codes and direct simulation ones is pointed.