Abstract
Microbubble technology has been widely applied in various industrial fields. Recently, research on many types of microbubble application technology has been conducted experimentally, but there is a limit in deriving the optimal design and operating conditions. Therefore, if the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis of multiphase flow is used to supplement these experimental studies, it is expected that the time and cost required for prototype production and evaluation tests will be minimized and optimal results will be derived. However, few studies have been conducted on multiphase flow CFD analysis to interpret fluid flow in microbubble generators using swirl flow. In this study, CFD simulation of multiphase flow was performed to analyze the air-water mixing process and fluid flow characteristics in a microbubble generator with a dual-chamber structure. Based on the simulation results, it was confirmed that a negative pressure was formed on the central axis of rotation due to the strong swirling flow. And it could be seen that the air inside the suction tube was introduced into the inner chamber of the microbubble generator. In addition, as the high-speed mixed fluid collided with external water sucked by the negative pressure near the outlet, a large amount of microbubbles was ejected due to the shear force between the two flows flowing in opposite directions.