Large Eddy simulation of a droplet laden turbulent mixing layer

Large Eddy simulation (LES) is applied to a droplet laden turbulent mixing layer and the influence of shear, on the transport and preferential concentration of the dispersed phase is discussed. A Lagrangian formulation has been adopted for the particle dispersion coupled with an Eulerian description for the carrier gas. A stochastic model has been used to account for influence of the sub-grid scale motions of the continuous phase on the particle motion. Simulations conducted neglecting this sub-grid dispersion model show that the liquid dispersion is under predicted. However, when the sub-grid model is included the results show good agreement when compared with the experimental findings, demonstrating that the characteristics of the flow are well captured. A sensitivity analysis on the effect of the dispersion constants has been conducted, suggesting that increasing the contribution of the stochastic term, leads to a higher accumulation of smaller particles at the edge of the mixing layer. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.