A droplet entrainment model for horizontal segregated flows

A further step of improving the modeling of free interfaces lies within the consideration of droplet entrainment mechanisms. In this paper a new sub-grid entrainment model is proposed, which assumes that due to liquid turbulence the interface gets rough and wavy leading to the formation of droplets. Therefore, the droplet entrainment model requires the consideration of an additional droplet phase, which is described with an own set of balance equations in the spirit of the particle model. Two local key factors determine the rate of droplet entrainment: the liquid turbulent kinetic energy as well as the outward velocity gradient of the liquid relative to the interface motion. The new droplet entrainment approach is included into CFD simulations for attempting to reproduce existing horizontal two-phase flow data from the HAWAC channel. The computational results are in reasonable agreement with the experimentally observed data.