A scaling analysis of added-mass and history forces and their coupling in dispersed multiphase flows

Accurate momentum coupling model is vital to simulation of dispersed multiphase flows. The overall force exerted on a particle is divided into four physically meaningful contributions, i.e., quasi-steady, stress-gradient, added-mass, and viscous-unsteady (history) forces. Time scale analysis on the turbulent multiphase flow and the viscous-unsteady kernel shows that the integral representation of the viscous-unsteady force is required except for a narrow range of particle size around the Kolmogorov length scale when particle-to-fluid density ratio is large. Conventionally, the particle-to-fluid density ratio is used to evaluate the relative importance of the unsteady forces (stress-gradient, added-mass, and history forces) in the momentum coupling. However, it is shown from our analysis that when particle-to-fluid density ratio is large, the importance of the unsteady forces depends on the particle-to-fluid length scale ratio and not on the density ratio. Provided the particle size is comparable to the smallest fluid length scale (i.e., Kolmogorov length scale for turbulence or shock thickness for shock-particle interaction) or larger, unsteady forces are important in evaluating the particle motion. Furthermore, the particle mass loading is often used to estimate the importance of the back effect of particles on the fluid. An improved estimate of backward coupling for each force contribution is established through a scaling argument. The back effects of stress-gradient and added-mass forces depend on particle volume fraction. For large particle-to-fluid density ratio, the importance of the quasi-steady force in backward coupling depends on the particle mass fraction; while that of the viscous-unsteady force is related to both particle mass and volume fractions.