Study of Parameters Effect on Hydrodynamics of a Gas-Solid Chamber Experimentally and Numerically

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz Branch, Ahvaz, Iran
mahdi_hamzei@aut.ac.ir
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

In this research, gas velocity, initial static bed height and particle size effect on hydrodynamics of a non-reactive gas–solid fluidized bed chamber were studied experimentally and computationally. A multi fluid Eulerian model incorporating the kinetic theory for solid particles was applied to simulate the unsteady state behavior of this chamber and momentum exchange coefficients were calculated by using the Syamlal- O’Brien drag functions. Simulation results were compared with the experimental data in order to validate the CFD model. Pressure drops predicted by the simulations at different particle sizes and initial static bed height were in good agreement with experimental measurements at superficial gas velocity higher than the minimum fluidization velocity. Simulation results also indicated that small bubbles were produced at the bottom of the bed. These bubbles collided with each other as they moved upwards forming larger bubbles. Furthermore, this comparison showed that the model can predict hydrodynamic behavior of gas solid fluidized bed chambers reasonably well.