A Eulerian-Lagrangian method is implemented to simulate turbulent two-phase gas-solid riser flow, using a mean-field/probability density function (PDF) method. The mean-field method is applied to the gas phase while the PDF method is applied to the solid phase. Using the PDF method for the solid phase is advantageous as there is no need for closure models for the convection term in the momentum equation contrary to the situation where the mean-field method is used. The present method is implemented to investigate the influence of a side inlet on the flow pattern in a dilute gas-solid riser configuration. When applying the Eulerian-Lagrangian method, a perfect correspondence with the experimental observations is obtained. On the contrary, when using the Eulerian-Eulerian method significant differences with the experimental data are observed. (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.