Evaluation of numerical strategies for large eddy simulation of particulate two-phase recirculating flows

Predicting particle dispersion in recirculating two-phase flows is a key issue for reacting flows and a potential application of large eddy simulation (LES) methods. In this study, Euler/Euler and Euler/Lagrange LES approaches are compared in the bluff body configuration from Borée et al. [J. Borée, T. Ishima, I. Flour, The effect of mass loading and inter-particle collisions on the development of the polydispersed two-phase flow downstream of a confined bluff body, J. Fluid Mech. 443 (2001) 129–165] where glass beads are injected into a complex recirculating flow. These tests are performed for non-reacting, non-evaporating sprays but are mandatory validations before computing realistic combustion chambers. Two different codes (one explicit and compressible and the other implicit and incompressible) are also tested on the same configuration. Results show that the gas flow is well predicted by both codes. The dispersed phase is also well predicted by both codes but the Lagrangian approach predicts root-mean-square values more accurately than the Eulerian approach. The effects of mesh, solvers and numerical schemes are discussed for each method.