Numerical and Experimental Study of The Characteristics of Airlift Pumps

This study is devoted to the investigation of airlift pumps. It involves mathematical modelling , numerical simulation, and a laboratory experiment. Airlift modelling is often limited to a two -phase water -air system. The mathematical modelling is based on the Volume of Fluid (VOF) method. Numerical modelling of two -phase flow was performed using the opensource software OpenFOAM. An experiment was also carried out in the filtration laboratory. At this stage, the research was limited to a model of gas bubbles rising in a pipe without recirculation The influence of physical parameters on the airlift efficiency was investigated. The calculation results are in good agreement with the experimental data within the error. The observed rise of air bubbles in water is accompanied by a complex system of vortices, which causes an increase in hydrodynamic drag.