Effect of turbulent dispersion force models on hydrodynamic behaviors of slurry flows in horizontal pipes

The Eulerian–Eulerian approach, coupled with the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) technique, is a practical combination for simulating industrial slurry flows. In such simulations, the turbulent dispersion force plays a critical role in driving particles from regions of high concentration to low concentration, thereby influencing particle distribution and overall hydrodynamic behaviors. The performance of the proposed numerous turbulent dispersion force models has not been evaluated systematically in simulating sand–water slurry flows in horizontal pipes. This study investigates turbulent slurry flows in horizontal pipes under various flow conditions using the Eulerian–Eulerian approach combined with RANS. Simulations without turbulent dispersion force and with three widely used turbulent dispersion force models—Lopez de Bertodano, Simonin, and Burns—are analyzed based on predictions of streamwise velocity, secondary flow, solid concentration distribution, and liquid turbulent kinetic energy. A comparison of the simulation results with experimental data from the literature on streamwise velocity and solid concentration distribution highlights the critical importance of incorporating the turbulent dispersion force for accurate predictions. The Lopez de Bertodano model significantly underestimates the turbulent dispersion effect and, therefore, is not recommended for such flows. The Simonin and Burns models exhibit better performance; however, further refinement is required to achieve higher predictive accuracy. A computational efficiency analysis is conducted. Considering both accuracy and efficiency, the Burns model is identified as the optimal choice for the flow cases examined in this study. These findings may serve as a useful reference for slurry simulations in horizontal pipelines and assist researchers in making more informed model selections.