[Andrea_85]

Dear All,

i have a question regarding the energy equation in chtMultiRegionFoam or, in general, the energy equation for multi-component systems. The fluid i am working with is moist air, which is a binary mixture of dry air (a) and water vapor (v). The total heat flux for this multi-components system should be the sum of conductive heat flux (given by Fourier's law) and the heat flux resulting from mass diffusion (see for example [1], Chapter 19):

 


where


 


 --> enthalpy of component "i"



 
with

--> mass fraction of component "i
--> density of the mixture

However, if we look at how the energy equation is implemented in (for example) chtMultiRegionFoam, it seems that the contribution of mass diffusion to the heat flux is not there (i am copying from OF 6):

 fvScalarMatrix EEqn
     (                      
   fvm::ddt(rho, he) + fvm::div(phi, he)
+ fvc::ddt(rho, K) + fvc::div(phi, K)
+ (  

       he.name() == "e"  

      ? fvc::div                                   

        (                                       
              fvc::absolute(phi/fvc::interpolate(rho), U),                                             p,
              "div(phiv,p)" 
        )
        : -dpdt
     )
- fvm::laplacian(turbulence.alphaEff(), he)
== 
    rho*(U&g) 
+ rad.Sh(thermo, he)
+ Qdot
+ fvOptions(rho, he)
);

I guess the term:


- fvm::laplacian(turbulence.alphaEff(), he)


only accounts for conductive heat flux. So, where is the mass diffusion contribution?

Thanks,

Andrea



[1]Bird, R. Byron. "Transport phenomena." Applied Mechanics Reviews 55.1 (2002): R1-R4.

[Andrea_85]

I just wanted to add that mass diffusivity is correctly accounted for in the specie equation:

fvScalarMatrix YiEqn
    (
        fvm::ddt(rho,Yi)
      + mvConvection->fvmDiv(phi, Yi)
      - fvm::laplacian(turbulence.muEff(), Yi) 
    ==
        reaction.R(Yi)
     + fvOptions(rho, Yi)
   );

Here OF uses the effective viscosity instead of mass diffusivity, which I think is ok for turbulent flows. If I understand correctly, the diffusive mass flux for turbulent flows should be written as:



In OF this becomes



under the assumption that and


It seems to me that this term is then neglected in the Energy equation. The approximation (if it is neglected) should be ok for Lewis number close to 1, where Lewis number for component i is defined as:




where k is the thermal conductivity. Note that Le=1/Pr following OF implementation.


Are these ideas correct? Is the the heat flux due to mass diffusion neglected in energy equation? Or am i missing something?


Thanks,

Andrea

[Gaozw]

Hi Andrea,

I have read this part of the code and I think what you said is right. In OF, the unity Sc number assumption is used for specie equation since the differential diffusion model is not available.

Gao