3D Eulerian simulation of a gas-solid bubbling fluidized bed: assessment of drag coefficient correlations

Fluidized beds have been widely used in power generation and in the chemical, biochemical, and petroleum industries. The 3D simulation of commercial scale fluidized beds has been computationally impractical due to the required memory and processor speeds. However, in this study, 3D Computational Fluid Dynamics simulation of a gas-solid bubbling fluidized bed is performed to investigate the effect of using different inter-phase drag models. The drag correlations of Syamlal-O'Brien, Gidaspow, and Wen-Yu are reviewed using a multiphase Eulerian-Eulerian model to simulate the momentum transfer between phases. Comparisons are made with both a 2D Cartesian simulation and experimental data. The experiments are performed on a Plexiglas rectangular fluidized bed consisting of spherical glass beads and ambient air as the gas phase. The aim of this work is to present an optimum drag model to simulate the momentum transfer between phases and compare the results using 3D versus 2D simulation of gas-solid bubbling fluidized beds. Comparisons were made based on solid volume fractions, expansion height, and pressure drop inside the fluidized bed at different superficial gas velocities. The results were found to agree well with experimental data.