Open Access

ARTICLE

Fluid Flow Behavior of a Binary Mixture Under the Influence of External Disturbances Using Different Density Models

A. Parsa¹, M.Z. Saghir¹

1 Ryerson University, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 350 Victoria Street, Toronto, ON, L6H5C2, Canada

Fluid Dynamics & Materials Processing 2012, 8(1), 27-50. https://doi.org/10.3970/fdmp.2011.008.027

Abstract

Experiments onboard the International Space Station typically display undesired convective flow as a results of unwanted oscillatory g-jitters. A cubic rigid cell filled with water (90%) and isopropanol (10%) with a thermal gradient and forced vibrations is considered. The cell is under the influence of three different levels of periodic oscillation (Ra_vib ≈ 1.6, 650 and 4000) applied perpendicular to the temperature gradient. In this paper, we examine the transport process (fluid flow, heat transfer and mass transfer) due to oscillatory g-jitters in the presence of Soret effect. The full transient Navier Stokes equations coupled with the mass and heat transfer formulation are solved numerically using a finite volume technique. The physical properties of the fluid mixture such as density are determined using two different models, (i) the PCSAFT equation of state and (ii) the mass weighted mixing rule. The results of each model for the flow, temperature and concentration distributions are compared and analyzed in detail. Results show a significant effect of the selected density model on the flow pattern and components separation especially when subjected to vibrations with higher Rayleigh number.

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