Chemical Engineering Science, Vol.54, No.22, 5427-5440, 1999
Discrete simulations of heterogeneous structure and dynamic behavior in gas-solid fluidization
Fluidization has been simulated in a broad regime spectrum by using the particle-motion-resolved discrete model in which the motion process of each particle is decomposed into the collision process and the suspension process, while gas flow is treated by solving the Navier-Stokes equation. Momentum conservation of collision mechanics controls the interaction between colliding particles, and the state of each suspended particle is fully dominated by equation of force balance over that particle. As a result, the proposed model could show bubble behaviors above a distributor with several orifices. Further, it has yielded dynamic pictures of clusters and trajectory of particles moving irregularly from the dilute phase to the dense phase or vice versa. The effect of operating conditions on cluster structure and the choking behavior of fluidized systems are also simulated. Therefore, the particle-motion-resolved discrete model has wider applicable range in comparison with the previous discrete model.