A multiscale approach for the study of particle-laden flows using a continuous model

The methodology previously proposed by the authors to solve particle-laden turbulent flows through a multiscale approach is extended by introducing a continuous function for the dispersed phase concentration. The proposed continuous model is especially useful for studying the motion of particle streams in which gravitational and inertial effects cause the particles to deviate from a simple trajectory following the surrounding flow, as would be the case for the limit of very small, massless particles. The results show an excellent comparison between the solutions obtained using the continuous model and simulations evaluating the forces on each particle individually. Distinct advantages of the continuous approach are a much lower computational overhead, a better load balance and ease of parallelization. The multiscale methodology proposed may be used in the area of modeling and simulation of airborne infectious diseases.