Abstract
It has been reported experimentally that granular particles can climb along a vertically vibrating tube partially inserted inside a granular silo. In this paper, we use the Discrete Element Method (DEM) available in the Multiphase Flow with Interphase eXchanges (MFIX) code to investigate this phenomenon. By tracking the movement of individual particles, the climbing mechanism was illustrated and analyzed. The numerical results show that a sufficiently high vibration strength is needed to form a low solids volume fraction region inside the lower end of the vibrating tube, a dense region in the middle of the tube, and to bring the particles outside from the top layers down to fill in the void. The results also show that particle compaction in the middle section of the tube is the main cause of the climbing. Consequently, varying parameters which influence the compacted region, such as the restitution coefficient, change the climbing height.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 304-312 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Powder Technology |
| Volume | 320 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Oct 2017 |
Funding
This technical effort was performed in support of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Fossil Energy's Advanced Numerical Simulation of Multiphase Flow through the National Energy Technology Laboratory under the RES contract DE-FE0004000. This research was also supported in part by an appointment to the National Energy Technology Laboratory Research Participation Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DE-FE0004000) and administered by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education.
Keywords
- Discrete Element Method
- Granular pump
- Particle climbing
- Vibrating tube