The second of the 1989 conferences in the Shell Conference Series, held
from 10 to 12 December in the Netherlands and organized by
Koninklijke/Shell-Laboratorium, Amsterdam, was on "Computational Fluid
Dynamics for Petrochemical Process Equip- ment". The objective was to
generate a shared perspective on the subject with respect to its role in
the design of equipment involving complex flows. The conference was
attended by scientists from four Shell laboratories and experts from
universities in the USA, France, Great Britain, Germany and The
Netherlands. R. V. A. Oliemans, G. Ooms and T. M. M. Verheggen formed
the organizing committee. Complexities in fluid flow may arise from
equipment geometry and/or the fluids themselves, which can be
mUlti-component, single-phase or multiphase. Pressure and temperature
gradients and any reactivity of components in the flow stream can be
additional factors. Four themes were addressed: turbulent reacting and
non-reacting flow, dispersed multiphase flow, separated two-phase flow
and fluid flow simulation tools. The capabilities and limitations of a
sequence of turbulence flow models, from the relatively simple k-£ model
to direct numerical simulation and large eddy turbulence flow models,
were considered for a range of petrochemical process equipment. Flow
stability aspects and the potential of cellular automata for the
simulation of industrial flows also received attention. The papers
published in this special issue of Applied Scientific Research provide a
fair representation of the Computational Fluid Dynamics topics discussed
in the context of their application to petrochemical process equipment.
