Simulation of water removal in paper based on a 2D Level-Set model coupled with volume forces representing fluid resistance in 3D fiber distribution

• A numerical model of a vacuum dewatering process was established with a Level-Set method to simulate two-phase flow in a 2-dimensional paper sheet model with constructed volume forces representing flow resistance in a 3-dimensional environment. Nine cases of various volume force representations were compared to numerical and experimental data. Based on the dry content and dwell time relation, the case with the influence of the paper/wire interface showed the most pleasing result compared to experimental data. Compared to the other numerical cases, considering the blockage of the pore space at the top layer of the forming fabric plays an essential role in determining the flow resistance during the vacuum process. Also, the dynamics of the dewatering rate is captured well with the influence of the blockage of fibers on the top layer of the forming fabric. The peak of the dewatering rate could be investigated further with a higher frequency of sample points on new experimental data.The computational time for the two-phase flow models in this study is extensively reduced due to the removal of the internal structure. This distinction enables time efficient simulations of vacuum dewatering process in which several dewatering parameters such as level of vacuum, influence of moving vacuum pulse and higher basis weights could be investigated.

Ämnesord

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Maskinteknik -- Strömningsmekanik och akustik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Mechanical Engineering -- Fluid Mechanics and Acoustics (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Volume force

Volume-averaging

Two-phase flow

Level-Set method

Porous media

Vacuum dewatering

Miljö- och energisystem

Environmental and Energy Systems

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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art (ämneskategori)