Multi-scale modelling of reactive particulate flows

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Particulate flows are part of many environmental flows as well as man-made processes. In nature, land slides, sediment transport in rivers, pyroclastic flows from volcanic eruptions are a few examples of many types of particulate flows. In the energy industry, catalytic cracking, wood gasification, hydraulic fracturing and solid particle solar receiver are classical applications where mastering the particulate flow is a key factor in the overall efficiency of the process. A proper understanding of the dynamics of this class of multiphase flows is still incomplete in relation to the intricate, and frequently dominant, momentum, heat and mass transfer between the dispersed solid phase and the continuous surrounding fluid. Due to the flow complexity, making significant advances in the comprehension of particulate flows constitutes a great challenge for research scientists and engineers. We address this challenge computationally and on multiple scales (essentially micro and meso). The targeted applications are processes that store and convert energy. We use PeliGRIFF, a fully parallel platform that offers robust and efficient simulation methods for particulate flows at both the micro and meso scales. The goal of this proposal is to enhance the numerical models of PeliGRIFF with a focus on (i) non-spherical particles and (ii) heat and mass transfer with intra-particle diffusion. The primary flow configuration is a fixed or fluidized bed reactor. We plan to perform unprecedented simulations as, e.g., a micro scale simulation of a complete reactive 3D fluidized bed with 10,000 particles. This requires to develop and validate new functionalities (e.g. a Sharp-Interface method to accurately capture the gradient discontinuities at the fluid/particle interface) and to enhance the already satisfactory computing capabilities of our simulation tool PeliGRIFF. The key feature of our methodology is to balance advanced numerical methods and highly scalable codes with in-depth physical analysis. The expected benefit is three-fold: (i) to extend our comprehension of the dynamics of reactive particulate flow at the fundamental level, (ii) to derive new momentum, heat and mass transfer correlations and to incorporate them in the meso scale model and (iii) to offers more reliable and accurate numerical modelling tools to the Canadian process industry.