Simulating interactions between turbulence and particles in erosive flow and transport

A numerical procedure is described for simulating fluctuating gas motions and resulting forces on gas-borne particulates. Included are some of the particle influences which significantly alter the driving turbulent field. The coupling apparent between dispersed phase particle and continuous phase turbulent flow is introduced with the help of observations from complementary two phase combustion wind tunnel experiments. In the simulations, particle to gas relative velocities and resulting forces on the particles are obtained at incremental time steps for statistically representative particle groups using a random selection method. The fluctuating velocity components are constrained so that their ensemble averages correspond to the predetermined local mean turbulent energy. The influence of gas-borne particles on turbulent transport, combustion kinetics and subsequent wall surface erosion/corrosion is the central issue of this research.