Section: Application Domains

Particulate and mixture flows

We investigate fluid mechanics models referred to as “multi–fluids” flows. A large part of our activity is more specifically concerned with the case where a disperse phase interacts with a dense phase. Such flows arise in numerous applications, like for pollutant transport and dispersion, the combustion of fuel particles in air, the modelling of fluidized beds, the dynamic of sprays and in particular biosprays with medical applications, engine fine particles emission... There are many possible modelings of such flows: microscopic models where the two phases occupy distinct domains and where the coupling arises through intricate interface conditions; macroscopic models which are of hydrodynamic (multiphase) type, involving non standard state laws, possibly with non conservative terms, and the so–called mesoscopic models. The latter are based on Eulerian–Lagrangian description where the disperse phase is described by a particle distribution function in phase space. Following this path we are led to a Vlasov-like equation coupled to a system describing the evolution of the dense phase that is either the Euler or the Navier-Stokes equations. It turns out that the leading effect in such models is the drag force. However, the role of other terms, of more or less phenomenological nature, deserves to be discussed (close packing terms, lift term, Basset force...). Of course the fluid/kinetic model is interesting in itself and needs further analysis and dedicated numerical schemes. In particular, in collaboration with the Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), we have proposed a semi-Lagrangian scheme for the simulation of particulate flows, extending the framework established in plasma physics to such flows.

We also think it is worthwhile to identify hydrodynamic regimes: it leads to discuss hierarchies of coupled hydrodynamic systems, the nature of which could be quite intriguing and original, while they share some common features of the porous media problems. We are particularly interested in revisiting the modeling of mixture flows through the viewpoint of kinetic models and hydrodynamic regimes. We propose to revisit the derivation of new mixture models, generalizing Kazhikov-Smagulov equations, through hydrodynamic asymptotics. The model is of “hybrid” type in the sense that the constraint reduces to the standard incompressibility condition when the disperse phase is absent, while it involves derivatives of the particle volume fraction when the disperse phase is present.