A dimensional analysis of the momentum balance in circulating fluidized beds reveals that their fluid dynamics is governed by five dimensionless groups. However, it is not possible to match the hydrodynamics of a range of industrial circulating fluidized beds using a single laboratory facility operated at ambient temperature and pressure. To address this difficulty, Glicksman et al. (Powder Technology 77 (1993) 177) proposed a "reduced set" involving only four dimensionless parameters. They showed that it is sufficient when the drag on solid particles conforms either to the viscous or to the inertial limit. They assumed that it would also succeed in the intermediate regime, where many industrial beds operate. We verify this assumption by comparing two series of experimental data obtained in the same facility with different combinations of gases and solids that preserve the "reduced set" but exhibit a mismatch of the complete five-parameter set of dimensionless numbers. We find that the dimensionless profiles of pressure along the flow and solid volume fraction in the radial direction are nearly identical in the two series of experiments. These observations validate the reduced scaling proposed by Glicksman et al. (1993) for the intermediate regime, at least for the simulated pressurized conditions of our experiments. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.