Application of Lumley’s Drag Reduction Model to Two-Phase Gas-Particle Flow in a Pipe

Abstract

A “two-fluid model” has been incorporated with Lumley’s drag reduction model to analyze the mechanism of momentum transfer in the turbulent dilute gas-particle flow in a vertical pipe. The change of the effective viscous sublayer thickness by the presence of particles is modeled by Lumley’s theoretical model. The numerical computations of the friction factor and the pressure drop in a fully developed pipe flow are in good agreement with the corresponding experimental data for an average particle size of 15 μm. It is proved that Lumley’s model is successful in predicting the correct reduction behavior of the drag in the gas-particle flows. It has been confirmed that the effective viscous sublayer thickness for two-phase gas-particle flow is dependent on the particle relaxation time, Kolmogoroff time scale and the solids-gas loading ratio.