Drift-flux
Drift-flux modelling in OpenFOAM: settling, thickening and sludge transport
Model a mixture whose phases move at different velocities without solving each phase separately — settling tanks, thickeners and slurry transport.
What it is
One mixture momentum equation plus a relation for how the dispersed phase drifts relative to it. Much cheaper than a full Eulerian model, and the right level of detail when the question is where material settles rather than what each phase is doing.
What the application sets up
- Mixture properties and a settling velocity relation
- Initial and inlet concentration of the dispersed phase
- Geometry of the settling region, including any baffles
- A transient run, since settling is a time-dependent process
- Concentration profiles over depth, which is what the design is judged on
Typical uses
- Settling and clarification tanks
- Thickener and separator design
- Slurry and tailings transport
- Sediment distribution in a vessel
Industries
Sectors where this analysis is routinely asked for.
- Water & wastewater
- Mining & tailings
- Chemical process
- Food processing
What comes out
- Concentration profiles over depth
- Settled bed growth
- Clarified layer quality
- Underflow and overflow split
OpenFOAM solvers
driftFluxFoam
Selected and configured for you from the analysis type. You can still see every dictionary the application writes.
In every tier
This analysis type is in the free build. The free tier limits mesh size to 250,000 cells and solving to one core — not which physics you may use.
On accuracy, plainly.
Every analysis type is exercised end to end on every pass — its case is generated, meshed and run — which establishes that the setup is right, not that the answer matches your geometry. No CFD result is evidence until it is checked against something you trust: a measurement, a hand calculation, or a mesh-refinement study the application will run for you. Treat these results with the judgement you would apply to any CFD you set up yourself.