Advanced analysis of structured packing via computational fluid dynamics simulation

This research explored the use of CFD simulations to study single phase flows through structured packing. Flow rates were chosen to approximate those used in the vapor phase of industrial distillation columns. The results were evaluated against experimental results obtained with the same packing model and packed height. Several novel methods were employed to quickly obtain high validity results. A high-fidelity, digital copy of an actual packing element was created in seven hours through CT scanning. The meshing strategy employed adaptive, polyhedral meshing algorithms which resulted in high quality volume meshes with 80 percent less mesh elements than would be required with traditional tetrahedral meshing. Meshing and computation were performed on the TACC clusters. The permitted meshing with up to 57 million volume cells in less than 30 hours while simulations employing a realizable k-[epsilon] model converged in approximately two days using up to 544 processors. Nitrogen simulation predictions were found to be, on average, 7 percent below experimental measurements with water simulations showing considerably more error (~40%). The error is likely attributable a discrepancy between the simulation and experimental geometries. This discrepancy is due to an oversight in sample preparation and not a flaw in the CT scanning process of geometry creation. The volume of data generated in CFD simulation was found to be very valuable for understanding and benchmarking packing performance. Streamlines and contour plots were used to analyze the variation in performance both locally and throughout the packing stack. Significant variation was observed in flow pattern, velocity distribution, and pressure profiles throughout the column. However, the joint regions were found to be most adverse to column energy efficiency.