Webinar

Multiscale Modeling of Multiphase Flows

Several technologically important processes involve a variety of multiphase flows, e.g., in chemical processing, oil and gas (upstream and downstream), energy/power generation technologies, mineral processing and metallurgy, speciality and fine chemicals, etc. Multiphase flows occurring in these process applications often involve multiple different length and time scales. It is difficult to simulate such multiphase flows with widely varying length/time scales using any one computational method. Depending on the required information, such multiphase flow problems can be creatively divided into multiple smaller problems and appropriate computational methods can be used to predict the flow behavior at different scales.

In this webinar, we will demonstrate a multiscale approach using single/two-phase flow through packed bed reactors. We will focus on how particle-resolved simulations can be used to study the effect of catalyst shape on particle-scale flow, heat transfer, reactions and catalyst deactivation in packed bed reactors. Further, applications of the Eulerian multifluid method to simulate the bed-scale gas-liquid distribution and volume-of-fluid method to simulate particle-scale liquid distribution will be discussed. Finally, a multiscale computational methodology developed to simulate gas–liquid distribution through trays used in packed (or trickle) beds will also be discussed.

Guest Speaker

Vivek Buwa is a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi. He earned his PhD in Chemical Engineering from IIT Bombay/National Chemical Laboratory, Pune. After his doctorate, he was briefly with the Institute of Fluid Mechanics (LSTM), University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany, as Research fellow of the Bavarian Science foundation and the Alexander Humboldt Foundation. He joined IIT Delhi in 2006.

At IIT Delhi, he has been instrumental in setting up the multiphase flow research group, which focuses on advanced measurement techniques, modeling and simulations of multiphase flow processes and their applications to energy, oil and gas, chemical processing and mineral processing applications. He also leads the Indo-German Partnership (IGP) project between IIT Delhi and FAU Erlangen and has organized Indo-German symposium on “Advanced Measurements and Multiscale CFD Simulations for Intensification of Multiphase Flow Processes.”

His research areas are in computational fluid dynamics, multiphase reactor engineering, multiphase flows, process intensification and micro-reactors. He has over 120 international journal and conference publications and has authored/co-authored two book chapters and two articles. His pioneering work in multiscale multiphase flows has been widely cited and he has won several awards and recognition for his research and teaching.
http://web.iitd.ac.in/~vvbuwa/Presentstudents/Studentslist/studentprofile/VVB/Vivekbuwa.html