LAUSR

Abstract A model of droplet breakup during formation of a dense emulsion in a turbulent flow is developed. Droplet fluctuation velocities, eventually causing breakup, are determined using the kinetic theory of granular media. For model validation, an experimental Couette device is employed. The dispersed and continuous phases are deionized water and mineral oil, respectively. Droplet coalescence is suppressed by a surfactant. A series of experiments is conducted for different Couette device rotation speeds and water holdups. For identification of the major droplet breakup model parameter, the critical Weber number, droplet dispersion in the Couette device is modelled by the CFD-population balance A-MuSiG method implemented into the developer’s version of the Simcenter STAR-CCM+® commercial code. A good agreement between the computational and experimental data is obtained for the dispersed phase holdups in the range of 10-30%, commonly encountered in production logging of oil and water producing wells.