Published 4 issues per year
ISSN Print: 2169-2785
ISSN Online: 2167-857X
Indexed in
SIMULATION OF PHASE CHANGE PROCESS IN CAPILLARY TUBES WITH A HYBRID LATTICE BOLTZMANN METHOD
ABSTRACT
In this article the mesoscopic lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is used to simulate the flow in a rectangular capillary tube. Combining the free energy model with the thermal model, a hybrid LBM is proposed for two-phase fluids. This hybrid LBM is used to simulate the gas-liquid phase change process of capillary tube flows. The consequences show that the temperature of the center of the tube is higher than that of the circumferential wall before the phase change. The phase change starts at the center of the tube, then the gas expands along the axial direction of the capillary tube, and finally the center of the entire tube is almost filled with the gas. In gas-liquid two-phase flow of the capillary tube, the velocity of gas is much higher than that of liquid. It is found that the pressure drop has a great influence on gas-liquid phase change of the capillary tube.