Mathematical Well-posedness of a Two-Fluid Equations for Bubbly Two-Phase Flows

Abstract

It is widely known that two-fluid equations used in most engineering applications do not satisfy the necessary condition for being mathematical well-posed as initial-value problems. In the case of stratified two-phase flows, several researchers have revealed that differential models satisfying the necessary condition are to be derived if the pressure difference between the phases is related to the spatial gradient of the void fraction through the effects of gravity or surface tension. While, in the case of dispersed two-phase flows, no physically reasonable method to derive mathematically well-posed two-fluid model has been proposed. In the present study, particularly focusing on the effect of interfacial pressure terms, we derived the mathematically closed form of the volume-averaged two-fluid model for bubbly two-phase flows. As a result of characteristic analyses, it was shown that the proposed two-fluid equations satisfy the necessary condition of mathematical well-posedness if the void fraction is sufficiently small.