Finding OpenFoam solver for dropping into particle bed
 

Hi there,

I am working with OpenFoam for quite some time now, but had anything to do with particles yet. Now I am looking for a starting point to learn particle simulations.

In the end I want to:
- throw droplets into a bed of particles with an ambient gas
- see particle ejected due to impact force
- measure amount and path of ejected particles
- capillary forces, droplet into the particle bed
- gravitation
- phase change of droplet (not necessary)


Is there a solver already capable of all the aforementioned parts?
And if not, what solver do you recommend to learn particle simulations?
And what solver do you think would be a good starting point to make a solver that can do all this?


Kind regards,
Teresa

Hi Teresa,
For this, my first go-to would be DPMFoam solver (or CFDEM-Coupling). It uses lagrangian particle tracking so you can " throw droplets/particles into a bed of particles with an ambient gas" (and easily measure path of particles and amount of particles in various regions etc).
In DPM, the particles are type basicCollidingParticle, so you can account for particle-particle interactions such as collision ("see particle ejected due to impact force") or cohesion ("capillary forces, droplet into the particle bed").
I am unsure about phase-changing particles.
Best,
Josh

Hello Josh,

thank you!

This looks super interesting and I will try to learn everything about it. I knew that added phase change would be a problem and might be a bigger project.

Have a nice day,
Teresa

Hey Josh,

DPMFoam looks great so far. The only thing I am missing is how to add a second liquid phase. The droplet (liquid) I want to drop into the particle bed has different properties than the ambient gas. Maybe a combination between this solver and interFoam might do the trick.

Best,
Teresa