DIRECT NUMERICAL-SIMULATION OF THE BASIC PHASE-INTERACTIONS IN LIQUIDTURBULENT CHANNEL FLOW WITH IMMISCIBLE DROPLETS

A direct numerical simulation has been carried out for a turbulent liq uid channel how with immiscible droplets. In the simulation, a second- order finite difference scheme has been used to discretise the governi ng equations. A modified volume-of-fluid method has been adopted to pr edict the location of the phase interface. The computational results s how that each droplet exhibits different deformation and induces diffe rent velocities. The deformations of the droplets are found to be cons istent with the local topological structure of turbulence. Therefore, a topological zone classification for the local structure of near-inte rface turbulence is effective for understanding the basic interactions of the flow. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science S.A.