Measurement and modelling in multiphase systems

new measurement techniques and CFD modelling methods are being developed for complex flows in highly turbulent, highly gassed flows such as those found in multiphase, stirred tank chemical reactors

A consortium of leading UK SMEs, a major diversified oil and gas company and some academic partners have been successful in securing funding from the Department of Trade and Industry Technology Programme, to develop new measurement techniques and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling methods for complex flows in highly turbulent, highly gassed flows such as those found in multiphase, stirred tank chemical reactors.

With a budget of over GBP600,000, the project is being led by BHR Group, world-leading experts in fluid mixing, and has two parallel and complementary streams.

Stream one addresses the development of new instrumentation.

Industrial Tomography Systems (ITS) and the University of Leeds will work together to develop a rapid tomography instrument, which can potentially be used to produce 3-D flow maps in real time.

In addition, techniques to determine bubble behaviour in highly gassed systems will be developed by Leeds University and BHR Group to aid understanding of these complex phenomena.

Stream two addresses modelling where BHR Group will work with BP to develop CFD modelling techniques for such complex systems.

Whilst CFD of stirred tank reactors has developed significantly over recent years, substantial challenges remain, particularly for highly gassed systems.

The project hopes to address many of these challenges and move the state of the art forward towards creating fully predictive models for highly turbulent and highly gassed systems.

The two-year project will conclude by bringing together the two streams through an experimental programme to validate both measurement and modelling techniques.

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