Numerical Simulation of a Spouted Bed Using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

In this article, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technology is used to model a spouted bed(SB). The multifluid Eulerian-Eulerian approach based on kinetic theory of granular flows and Gidaspow's drag model for the interaction between gas and particles are applied in the modeling. The effects of the SB properties-that is, cone angle, particle size, cylinder diameter, and static bed height of particles-on its dynamics performance are investigated. The simulated results-that is, flow pattern of particles, fountain height, voidage, and particle velocity of the spout zone-are presented. It is shown that periodic fluctuation of spouting appears in an SB with conical angle of 30 degrees and inlet velocity at 16.6 m/s. When the SB cylinder diameter becomes 0.52 m, periodic fluctuation appears, too. The stable spouting of the SB with a 90 degrees cone angle could be obtained at an inlet air velocity of 24.3 m/s. The fountain height of particles decreased with an increase in particle size and the static bed height of particles. It is kept at about 0.19m when different SB cylinder diameters in the range of 0.36 to 0.48m are used. In the spouting region, the voidage decreased with static particle height in bed, but the particle velocity increased. For a certain particle size, the voidage decreased with an increase in particle height, but the velocity of the particles increased. It was also found that the cylinder diameter did not affect the volume fraction of particles except for the cylinder diameter 0.52m and the change in particle velocity was minimal in the spout zone. With the different static bed height of particles used, the voidage and particle velocity did not change much at the same level of spout zone.