Numerical analysis of air-water two-phase flow around a circular cylinder

Onuki, Akira; Akamatsu, Mikio*; Akimoto, Hajime

Multi-dimensional analyses have been expected with expanding computation resources for gas-liquid two-phase flow in a complex geometry such as fuel rod bundles. Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute is developing a numerical analytical method for the geometry effect, which is based on three-dimensional two-fluid model. In this study, a general curvilinear coordinate system was introduced to the two-fluid model code ACE-3D and air-water two-phase flow around a circular cylinder was analyzed. The present method predicts an air concentration to vortex regions behind the cylinder and a temporal fluctuation of vortex intensity; these two phenomena have been observed in experiments. It is clarified that the phenomena depend on a relative relationship between the drag force and the inertia of bubbles due to pressure fields.