Small-scale kinematics of two-phase flows: identifying relaxation processes in separated- and disperse-phase flow models

With the objective of modeling both separate and disperse two-phase flows, we use in this paper a methodology for deriving two-fluid models that do not assume any flow topology. This methodology is based on a variational principle and on entropy dissipation requirement. Some of the models that are such derived and studied are already known in the contexts of the description of separate-or disperse-phase flows. However, we here propose an arrangement of these models into a hierarchy based on their links through relaxation parameters. Moreover, the models are shown to be compatible with the description of a monodisperse bubbly flow and, within this frame, the relaxation parameters can be identified. This identification is finally verified and discussed through comparisons with experimental measures of sound dispersion and with dispersion relations of a reference model for bubbly media.