Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, Vol.55, No.46, 11950-11960, 2016
Numerical Study of Air Entrainment and Liquid Film Wrapping around a Rotating Cylinder
Entrainment of a gaseous cusp and wrapping dynamics of liquid film around the horizontal rotating roller have been studied in a stratified layer. Finite volume based simulations have been used for numerical prediction of the interface which has been tracked using volume of fluid (VOF) algorithm. After establishing the transient dynamics of the wrapping at receding front and entrainment at the advancing front, we showed the effect of liquid properties on interfacial dynamics. Mutual interplay between centrifugal force due to rotation of the cylinder and viscous damping generates different patterns of entrainment such as cusp formation, entrained air wrapping, ejection of bubble, and penetration of wrap inside entrainment. Variation of wrapped liquid thickness at the receding end is also studied for a wide range of Morton number and rotational speed. Finally, using scale analysis, we showed that viscosity plays a major role in deciding the azimuthal wrap thickness.