Abstract
Recent developments in direct numerical simulation of dispersed multiphase flows are reviewed. A current trend is to use a fixed Cartesian grid, as it is suitable for dealing with multiple solids, bubbles, and/or droplets (dispersed components). The features of several typical methods for gas–liquid interfaces and fluid–solid boundaries are discussed. For gas–liquid interfaces, we categorize the existing techniques into fitting, tracking, capturing, and indicator‐transportation methods in order to clarify the characteristics of the methods. For solid objects moving in a fluid, on the other hand, methods on a fixed Cartesian grid are highlighted. Our primary interest is in the conservation properties of the algorithms. From this point of view, we show a combination of our conservative momentum exchange (CMX) algorithm for immersed solid objects and volume‐of‐fluid (VOF) method for gas–liquid interface. This combination enables simulation of interaction problems between particles and bubbles of comparable sizes (three‐phase flows). As for interaction problems of a deformable solid object with a fluid, we demonstrate the successful coupling of CMX and a finite element method. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res; Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/htj). DOI 10.1002/htj.20345