CFD simulation of hydrodynamics of valve tray

A transient computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was developed to predict the hydraulics of a full open valve tray. The model studied the three-dimensional two-phase flow of gas and liquid in the Eulerian framework. Based on the clear liquid height measured on a full open valve tray, a new correlation of liquid hold-up was developed, and the interphase momentum transfer term was calculated. Several simulations were carried out for a rectangular full open valve tray with varying characters of system. The CFD simulations reflect chaotic tray hydrodynamics. The predicted results were in good agreement with the experimental data.