A swirl flow is achieved in a bed of solids by passing air through multiple fluid Inlets which are tangentially located at the base of a flat-based circular column The minimum superficial velocities needed to achieve swirling of the bed are measured experimentally under varied conditions An empirical correlation for the minimum swirl velocity has been proposed The results indicate that a stable swirling regime operation of the bed is possible There exists an upper limit of static bed depth beyond which stable swirling of entire bed is not possible The minimum swirl velocities are found to be 1 2-1 3 times the minimum fluidization velocities predicted for conventional fluidized beds (C) 2010 Elsevier B V All rights reserved