A filter-dependent granular temperature model from large-scale CFD-DEM data

Abstract: The computational study of strongly-coupled, gas-solid flows at scales relevant to most environmental and engineering applications requires the use of `coarse-grained' methodologies such as the two-fluid model, particle-in-cell approach or the multiphase Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes equations. While these strategies enable computations at desirable length- and time-scales, they rely heavily on models to capture important flow physics that occur at scales smaller than the mesh. To date, the models that do exist are based on a limited set of flow conditions, such as very dilute particle phase. To this end, we leverage the most large-scale repository of CFD-DEM data to date to develop a filter-size dependent model for granular temperature -- a key quantity for accurately predicting gas-solid flows. This filter-size dependence then translates directly to grid-size dependence in the context of coarse-grained approaches. In addition, we leverage the CFD-DEM dataset to propose an improved model for the mean variance in particle volume fraction, a quantity that characterizes the degree of clustering in the flow.