On buoyancy in disperse two-phase flow and its impact on well-posedness of two-fluid models

Maxey & Riley's (Phys. Fluids, vol. 26, 1983, 883) analytical solution for the flow around a small sphere at low particle Reynolds number tells us that the fluid-particle interaction force decomposes into a contribution from the local flow disturbance caused by the particle's boundary -- consisting of the drag, Faxen, virtual-mass, and history forces -- and another contribution from the stress of the background flow, termed generalized-buoyancy force. There is also a consensus that, for general disperse two-phase flow, the interfacial force density, resulting from averaging the fluid's and particles' equations of motion, decomposes in a likewise manner. However, there has been a long-standing controversy about the physical closure separating the generalized-buoyancy from the interfacial force density, especially whether or not pseudo-stresses, such as the Reynolds stress, should be attributed to the background flow. Furthermore, most existing propositions for this closure involve small-particle approximations. Here, we show that all existing buoyancy closures are mathematically inconsistent with at least one of three simple thought experiments designed to determine the roles of pseudo-stresses and small-particle approximations. We then derive the unique closure consistent with these thought experiments. It fully incorporates all pseudo-stresses, requires no approximation, and is supported by particle-resolved numerical simulations. Remarkably, it exhibits a low-pass filter property, attenuating buoyancy at short wavelengths, that prevents it from causing Hadamard instabilities, constituting a first-principle-based solution to the long-standing ill-posedness problem of two-fluid models. When employing the derived closure, even very simplistic two-fluid models are hyperbolic.