Large Eddy Simulation of a dilute particle-laden turbulent flow over a backward-facing step

Dilute gas-particle turbulent flows over a backward-facing step are numerically simulated by Large Eddy Simulation (LES) for the continuous phase and Lagrangian particle trajectory method for the particle phase. Predicted results of mean velocities and fluctuating velocities of both phases agree well with the experimental data, and demonstrate that the main characteristics of the flow are accurately captured by the simulations. Characteristics of separation and reattachments as well as essential features of the coherent structure are obtained, in which the processes of vortex roll up, growth, pairing and breaking up are shown in details. Particle dispersions are then investigated through particles’ instantaneous distributions in coherent structure as well as the mean and fluctuating properties of particle number density (PND). The predicted mean PND agree well with experiment results. For small particles, the instantaneous distributions show much preferential concentration, while their mean PND shows more uniform distribution in downstream region. On the contrary, for large particles, their instantaneous distributions are much uniform (without clear preferential concentration) due to less effect of large eddy coherent, while their mean PND across the section is not uniform for more particles are distributed in the main flow region. The preferential concentration of particles by the large-scale eddies can lead to a high fluctuating PND.