Numerical Study of the Mixing of Density-Stratified Fluid with a Jet

Density stratification of LNG (liquefied natural gas) is produced in a storage tank when one LNG is loaded on top of another LNG in the same tank. Mixing LNG by a jet issued from a nozzle on the tank wall is considered to a promising technique to prevent and eliminate stratification in LNG storage tanks. This study is concerned with the numerical simulation of a jet flow issued into a two-layer density-stratified fluid in a tank and the resultant mixing phenomena. The jet behavior was investigated with the laboratory-based experiment of the authors' previous study. A numerical method proposed by the authors is employed for the simulation. The upper and lower fluids are water and a NaCl-water solution, respectively, and the lower fluid is issued vertically upward from a nozzle on the bottom of the tank. The Reynolds number (Re) defined by the jet velocity and the nozzle diameter ranges from 95 to 2,378, and the mass concentration of the NaCl-water solution C0 is set at 0.02 and 0.04. The simulation highlights the jet-induced mixing between the upper and lower fluids. It also clarifies the effects of Re and C0 on the height and horizontal spread of the jet.