Resolving Multiphase Flow through Packed Bed of Solid Particles Using eXtended Discrete Element Method with Porosity Calculation

Multiphase flow reactors such as trickle bed reactors are frequently used reactors in many industries. Understanding the fluid dynamics of these kinds of reactors is necessary to design and optimize them. The pressure drop and liquid saturation are the most important hydrodynamic parameters in these reactors, which depend highly on the porosity distribution inside the bed. The eXtended Discrete Element Method (XDEM) was applied as a numerical approach to model multiphase flow through packed beds of solid particles. This method has the ability to be coupled with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) through interphase momentum transfer which makes it suitable for many Eulerian-Lagrangian systems. The XDEM also calculates the porosity distribution along the bed, which not only eliminates the empirical correlations but also makes it possible to investigate the maldistribution of liquid saturation inside the bed. The results for the hydrodynamics parameters were compared with experimental data, and satisfactory agreement was achieved.