Tutorial: Gas Sparging System

Introduction
The purpose of this tutorial is to model a CD-6/HE-3 gas sparging system as per the
design recommended in (Bakker A, Smith J.M. and Myers K.J, 1994). This is a standard
configuration used in the biotechnology and processing industries for gas-liquid mixing, for
example in large scale fermenters.
This is done using the Eulerian multiphase model of ANSYS FLUENT, coupled with MRF
functionality.
This tutorial demonstrates how to do the following:

• Use the Eulerian multiphase model.

• Use the multiple reference frame (MRF) functionality to model a gas sparging system.

• Solve the case using appropriate solver settings.

• Postprocess the resulting data.

Prerequisites
This tutorial is written with the assumption that you have completed Tutorial 1 from
ANSYS FLUENT 14.0 Tutorial Guide, and that you are familiar with the ANSYS FLUENT
navigation pane and menu structure. Some steps in the setup and solution procedure will
not be shown explicitly.
In this tutorial, you will use Eulerian multiphase model coupled with MRF functionality.
For more details about MRF, see Section 10.3.1, The Multiple Reference Frame Model in
ANSYS FLUENT 14.0 User’s Guide.

Problem Description
The problem considered in this tutorial is shown in Figure 1.
A tank, with 2 m diameter, 2.8 m height, and an ASME bottom depth of 0.3394 m, is filled
with water upto a level of 2.4 m. The tank consists of four baffles, a central shaft with two
impellers (CD-6 and HE-3), and a ring sparger.

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Figure 1: Schematic Figure

Strategy
The details of these components are given below:

1. Shaft:
• Shaft diameter = 0.045 m
• Distance off bottom = 0.6 m
• Direction of rotation: clockwise seen from top
• Speed = 84 rpm

2. Baffles:
• Number of baffles = 4
• Baffle Width = 0.1667 m
• Distance off wall = 0.0278 m
• Distance off bottom = 0.0833 m

3. Impeller 1:
• Style: CD-6 (Smith Turbine)
• Number of blades = 6

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• Blade diameter = 0.8 m

• Disc diameter = 0.6 m
• Blade height = 0.16 m
• Blade length = 0.2 m
• Position of the blades = 180 degree arcs and concave face forward
• Distance off bottom = 0.6 m
• Blade/disc thickness 0.005 m

4. Impeller 2:
• Style: HE-3 down pumping
• Number of blades = 3
• Diameter = 1.04 m
• Blade width = 0.1664 m
• Blade angle at hub = 30 degrees

5. Ring Sparger:
• Diameter = 0.56 m
• Distance off bottom = 0.44 m
• Gas flow rate = 0.1 m3 /s

The objective is to maximize the contact between gas and liquid. The impellers pump
the liquid in the downward and radial directions, which then interacts with the baffles and
tank walls to develop a complex flow pattern. The liquid flow pattern is characterized by
recirculation vortices between the impellers and the baffles.
When the gas is injected through the sparger, the gas bubbles come in contact with the
liquid and are carried by the complex flow pattern. Due to the bouyancy forces, the bubbles
rise to the top and the gas escapes from the outlet. Hence the gas holdup, which is the
amount of gas that stays in the vessel at steady state is an important indicator of the
efficacy of the reactor.
The goal of CFD modeling is to determine the flow patterns and their effect on the gas-
liquid mixing and gas holdup. The impellers and the ring sparger are modeled explicitly.
The impellers can be modeled using the MRF technique. This tutorial demonstrates how
this method can be used.

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Setup and Solution

Preparation

1. Copy the mesh file (sparger.msh.gz) to your working folder.

2. Use FLUENT Launcher to start the 3D version of ANSYS FLUENT.

For more information about FLUENT Launcher see Section 1.1.2, Starting
ANSYS FLUENT Using FLUENT Launcher in ANSYS FLUENT 14.0 User’s Guide.
The Display Options are enabled by default. Therefore, after you read in the mesh, it
will be displayed in the embedded graphics window.

3. Enable Double-Precision in the Options list.

Step 1: Mesh

1. Read the mesh file (sparger.msh.gz).

File −→ Read −→Mesh...
As the mesh file is read, ANSYS FLUENT will report the progress in the console.

Step 2: General Settings

1. Retain the default solver settings.

General

2. Check the mesh.

General −→ Check
ANSYS FLUENT will perform various checks on the mesh and will report the progress
in the console. Make sure the minimum volume reported is a positive number.

3. Display the mesh.

General −→ Display...

(a) Disable Faces and enable Edges from the Options list.
(b) Select All from the Edge Type list.
(c) Select all the surfaces from the Surfaces list.
(d) Click Display (see Figure 2).

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Figure 2: Mesh Display

4. Define the mesh interfaces.

Mesh Interfaces
Since the mesh is non-conformal, you have to set up the mesh interfaces.
(a) Define mesh interface, cd-6.
i. Enter cd-6 for Mesh Interface.
ii. Select int-cd-6-inner from the Interface Zone 1 list, and int-cd-6-outer from
the Interface Zone 2 list.
iii. Click Create.
(b) Define the mesh interface, he-3.
i. Enter he-3 for Mesh Interface.
ii. Select int-he-3-inner from the Interface Zone 1 list, and int-he-3-outer from
the Interface Zone 2 list.
iii. Click Create and close Create/Edit Mesh Interfaces dialog box.

5. Enable Gravity.
General

6. Enter -9.81 m/s2 for X in the Gravitational Acceleration group box.

Step 3: Models

1. Select the Eulerian multiphase model.

Models −→ Multiphase −→ Edit...

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2. Select the standard k-epsilon viscous model.

Models −→ Viscous −→ Edit...

Step 4: Materials

Materials −→ Fluid −→ Create/Edit...

1. Retain the properties of air.

2. Copy water-liquid from the ANSYS FLUENT database and retain its default properties.

3. Click Change/Create and close the Create/Edit Materials dialog box.

Step 5: Phases

1. Define the primary (water) phase.

Phases −→ phase-1-Primary Phase −→ Edit...
(a) Enter water for Name.
(b) Select water-liquid from the Phase Material drop-down list.
(c) Click OK to close the Primary Phase dialog box.

2. Define the secondary (air) phase.

Phases −→ phase-2-Secondary Phase −→ Edit...
(a) Enter air for Name.
(b) Select air from the Phase Material drop-down list.
(c) Enter 0.002 m for Diameter.
(d) Click OK to close the Secondary Phase dialog box.

Step 6: Cell Zone Conditions

1. For fluid.cd-6 and fluid.he-3, select Mixture from the Phase drop-down list and click
Edit....
Cell Zone Conditions
(a) Enter 1, 0, and 0 for X, Y, and Z respectively in the Rotation-Axis Direction group
box.
(b) Swtich on Frame Motion in the Cell zone condition panel.
(c) New input parameters appears in Tab Reference Frame
(d) Enter -84 rpm for Speed.
(e) Click OK to close the Fluid dialog box.

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2. For fluid.tank, select mixture from the Phase drop-down list and click Edit....
Cell Zone Conditions −→ fluid.tank
(a) Make sure that Frame Motion option is unchecked.
(b) Click OK to close the Fluid dialog box.

Step 7: Boundary Conditions

1. For baffles, sparger, and tank, ensure that wall is selected from the Type drop-down
list.

2. For int-cd-6-inner, int-cd-6-outer, int-he-3-inner, and int-he-3-outer, ensure that interface

is selected from the Type drop-down list.

3. Set the boundary conditions for tank.top.

Boundary Conditions −→ tank.top
(a) Select air from the Phase drop-down list and click Edit....
i. Click Multiphase tab and enter 1 for Backflow Volume Fraction.
ii. Click OK to close the Pressure Outlet dialog box.
(b) Select mixture from the Phase drop-down list and click Edit....
i. Select Intensity and Hydraulic diameter from the Specification Method drop-
down list in the Turbulence group box.
ii. Enter 5% for Backflow Turbulent Intensity and 2 for Hydraulic Diameter.
iii. Click OK to close the Pressure Outlet dialog box.

4. For cd-6-blade, cd-6-disk, he-3-blade, shaft.cd-6, and shaft.he-3, select mixture from the
Phase drop-down list and click Edit....
(a) Select Moving Wall from the Wall Motion list.
(b) Select Relative to Adjacent Cell Zone and Rotational from the Motion group box.
(c) Enter 0 rpm for Speed.
(d) Enter 1, 0, and 0 for X, Y, and Z respectively in the Rotation-Axis Direction group
box.
(e) Click OK to close the Wall dialog box.

5. Set the boundary conditions for shaft.absolute.

Boundary Conditions −→ shaft.absolute −→ Edit...
(a) Select Moving Wall from the Wall Motion list.
(b) Select Relative to Adjacent Cell Zone and Rotational from the Motion group box.
(c) Enter -84 rpm for Speed.
(d) Enter 1, 0, and 0 for X, Y, and Z respectively in the Rotation-Axis Direction group
box.

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(e) Click OK to close the Wall dialog box.

6. For sparger-inlet, select wall from the Type list and retain the default boundary condi-
tions.
Initially sparger-inlet is defined as wall to solve a single phase flow field before enabling
multiphase (volume fraction equation).

Step 8: Solution

1. Set the solution parameters.

Solution Methods
(a) Select Green-Gauss Node Based from the Gradient drop-down list.
(b) Select First Order Upwind from the Momentum, Volume Fraction, Turbulent Kinetic
Energy, and Turbulent Dissipation Rate drop-down lists.

The problem is solved in two stages:

• The initial part of the solution is obtained for a single phase flow field with steady
flow.

• The later part of the solution is obtained for an unsteady flow, using MRF and solving
the volume fraction equation.

Solution 1: Single Phase Flow Field

1. Initialize the solution.

Solution Initialization

2. Mark the region for patching.

Adapt −→Region...
Adapt and create a register to patch air-volume-fraction of 1 near the top of the tank.
Since liquid level is specified as 2.4 m, the rest of the tank above this will be patched
with gas fraction of 1.
(a) Enter (2.4, 2.823382) for (X Min, X Max).
(b) Enter (-10, 10) for (Y Min,Y Max).
(c) Enter (-10, 10) for (Z Min, Z Max).
(d) Click Mark and close the Region Adaption dialog box.

3. Patch an initial liquid level in the tank.

Solution Initialization −→ Patch...
(a) Select air from the Phase drop-down list.
(b) Select Volume Fraction from the Variable list.

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(c) Enter 1 for the Value.

(d) Select hexahedron-r0 from the Registers to Patch list.
(e) Click Patch and close the Patch dialog box.

4. Deselect Volume Fraction from the Equations list.

Solution Controls −→ Equations...

5. Start the calculation for 2000 iterations.

Run Calculation
The solution converges in 1220 iterations approximately. However, the number of iter-
ations required for convergence may be different for different machine configurations.

6. Save the case and data files (sparger-converged.cas/dat.gz).

Solution 2: Unsteady State

1. Set the boundary condition for sparger-inlet.

Boundary Conditions −→ sparger-inlet
(a) Select velocity-inlet from the Type drop-down list.
(b) Select air from the Phase drop-down list and click Edit....
i. Select Components from the Velocity Specification Method drop-down list.
ii. Enter 4.93 m/s for X-Velocity and 0 m/s for Y-Velocity and Z-Velocity.
iii. Click the Multiphase tab and enter 1 for Volume Fraction.
iv. Click OK to close the Velocity Inlet dialog box.
(c) Select mixture from the Phase drop-down list and click Edit....
i. Select Intensity and Hydraulic Diameter from the Specification Method drop-
down list in the Turbulence group box.
ii. Enter 5% for Turbulent Intensity and 0.56 m for Hydraulic Diameter.
iii. Click OK to close the Velocity Inlet dialog box.
(d) Change the solver to Transient.
General −→ Transient
(e) Modify the solution control parameters.
i. Enter 0.3 for Pressure, 0.4 for Momentum, and 0.2 for Volume Fraction.
Solution Controls
ii. Select Volume Fraction from the Equations list.
Solution Controls −→ Equations...

2. Change the Absolute Criteria for all the residuals to 1e-06.

Monitors −→ Residuals −→ Edit...

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3. Set the commands for animations.

Calculation Activities (Execute Commands)−→ Create/Edit...

(a) Define the commands as shown in the Execute Commands dialog box.
The commands command-1 and command-2 updates the contours and saves the
.tiff files. The command-3 writes the case and data files after every 100 time-steps
by the name gas-sparger%t, where %t will be replaced by the time-step number.
(b) Click OK to close the Execute Commands dialog box.
(c) Click OK to close Execute Commands dialog box.

4. Create an iso-surface for displaying the contours of volume fraction of air to examine
the flow field.
Surface −→Iso-Surface...
(a) Select Mesh and Y-coordinate from the Surface of Constant drop-down lists.
(b) Name the new surface as y-0 and click Create.
(c) Close the Iso-Surface dialog box.

5. Set the display.

Graphics and Animations −→ Contours −→ Set Up...

(a) Select Phases... and Volume fraction from the Contours of drop-down lists.
(b) Select air from the Phase drop-down list.
(c) Select y-0 from the Surfaces list.
(d) Enable Draw Mesh from the Options list to open the Mesh Display dialog box.
i. Disable Edges and enable Faces from the Options list.
ii. Deselect tank and tank.top from the Surfaces list and click Display.
iii. Close Mesh Display dialog box.

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(e) Click Display and close the Contours dialog box.

(f) Set the view as shown in Figure ?? so that you can see the sparger inlets under
the impeller clearly.

6. Set the hardcopy format as TIFF.

File −→Save Picture

7. Start the calculation.

Run Calculation
(a) Enter 0.01 s for the Time Step Size.
(b) Enter 400 for the Number of Time Steps.
(c) Click Calculate.
Later you can increase the time step size to 0.05 s for 120 time steps. This will
cover a flow time of 10 seconds to reach a steady state.

Results

1. Examine the images at every five time steps to see the air entry at the sparger inlet
and air flow pattern.

2. After all the TIFF files have been saved, an external utility can be run to produce an
animation in MPEG or AVI format. The key images showing the progressive contours
of volume fraction of air are displayed in the following images (Figure 3–Figure 7).

Figure 3: Contours of Volume Fraction of Air at 1.0 seconds

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Figure 4: Contours of Volume Fraction of Air at 2.0 seconds

Figure 5: Contours of Volume Fraction of Air at 4.0 seconds

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Figure 6: Contours of Volume Fraction of Air at 9.0 seconds

Figure 7: Contours of Volume Fraction of Air at 10.0 seconds

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3. Display the velocity vectors (see Figures 8 and 9).

Graphics and Animations −→ Vectors −→ Set Up...

(a) Select Velocity from the Vectors of drop-down list.

(b) Select air from the Phase drop-down list.
(c) Select Velocity... and Velocity Magnitude from the Color by drop-down lists.
(d) Select air from the Phase drop-down list.
(e) Enter 80 for Scale and 2 for Skip.
(f) Disable Auto Range, Enable Clip to Range, Auto Scale, and Draw Grid from the
Options list.
(g) Click Display and close the Mesh Display window.
(h) Enter 0 m/s for Min and 3.0 m/s for Max.
(i) Select y-0 from the Surfaces list.
(j) Click Display and close the Vectors dialog box.

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Figure 8: Air Velocity Vectors at 4.0 seconds.

Figure 9: Air Velocity Vectors at 10.0 seconds.

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(k) Calculate the Gas Holdup.

Gas holdup is defined as the ratio of volume of air in the reactor to the total
volume.
Reports −→ Volume Integrals −→ Set Up...
i. Select Volume from the Report Type list.
ii. Select all the cell zones from the Cell Zones list.
iii. Click Compute.
ANSYS FLUENT reports the Total Volume as 8.347244 m3 .
iv. For obtaining total volume of air, set the parameters as shown in the Volume
Integrals dialog box.

The above calculation shows the volume fraction of air in reactor at 10.0 sec.
Thus,
Gasholdup = Volumefractionofair/TotalVolume (1)

= 1.3042672/8.347244 (2)
= 0.15625123 (3)

Summary
This tutorial demonstrated the application of MRF functionality to model a gas sparging
system. Though MRF is a steady state formulation, this problem was solved as transient
to enhance the convergence behavior.

• The results at the intermediate time-steps may not be as accurate as a sliding mesh
calculation.

• The CD-6/HE-3 gas sparging system was successfully modeled using MRF function-
ality.

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• Various postprocessing tools were used to analyze and examine the parameters of the
gas sparging process.

The MRF model can be used in mixing tanks if the impeller-baffle interactions are relatively
weak and large-scale transient effects are not present.

References
(Bakker A, Smith J.M. and Myers K.J, 1994), How to Disperse Gases in Liquids. Vol.101,
No.12, p.98.

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