(273b) Feasibility of a Coupled Discrete-Time Immersed Boundary-Discrete Element Method for Numerical Simulation of Granular Multiphase Flow

Dense multiphase flows are ubiquitous in engineering processes as well as in nature. The ability to predict and control engineering processes involving such flows is critical. Numerical simulations have the potential to shed much light on the physical behavior of these systems. However, detailed, large-scale simulation of coupled fluid-particle multiphase systems is limited. We present recent simulations investigating the feasibility of an immersed boundary method for coupling a Navier-Stokes solver to the Discrete Element method in order to perform large-scale simulations of dense multiphase flows in order to characterize their rheology. In particular, the numerical methodology is outlined and preliminary results from validation tests of flow past fixed arrays of spheres are shown to compare well with experimental results for nonzero Reynolds number. Finally current issues regarding the computational cost and accuracy for dynamic simulations and future directions are addressed.

1Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Company, for the United States Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract No. DE-AC04-94AL85000.