Numerical investigation on characteristics of interfacial wave of liquid film in gas–liquid two-phase flow using OpenFOAM

Abstract

Liquid film cooling as an advanced cooling technology is widely used in space vehicles. Stable operation of liquid film along the rocket combustion inner wall is crucial for thermal protection of rocket engines. The stability of liquid film is mainly determined by the characteristics of interfacial wave, which is rarely investigated right now. How to improve the stability of thin film has become a hot spot. In view of this, an advanced model based on the conventional Volume of Fluid (VOF) model is adopted to investigate the characteristics of interfacial wave in gas–liquid flow by using OpenFOAM, and the mechanism of formation and development of wave is revealed intuitively through numerical study. The effects from gas velocity, surface tension and dynamic viscosity of liquid (three factors) on the wave are studied respectively. It can be found that the gas velocity is critical to the formation and development of wave, and four modes of droplets generation are illustrated in this paper. Besides, a gas vortex near the gas–liquid interface can induce formation of wave easily, so changing the gas vortex state can regulate formation and development of wave. What’s more, the change rules of three factors influencing on the interfacial wave are obtained, and the surface tension has a negative effect on the formation and development of wave only when the surface tension coefficient is above the critical value, whereas the dynamic viscosity has a positive effect in this process. Lastly, the maximum height and maximum slope angle of wave will level off as the gas velocity increases. Meanwhile, the maximum slope angle of wave is usually no more than 38°, no matter what happens to the three factors.