Validation of a CFD model 3D cylindrical gas-solid fluidized beds

An efficient CFD two-fluid model (TFM) using Kinetic Theory of Granular Flow is used to perform 3D simulations of gas-solid fluidized beds. Simulation results are compared with experimental results from the literature. The TFM can predict the bubble and solids flow characteristics in close agreement with experimental observations. The equivalent bubble size obtained from simulations shows a fair agreement with X-ray tomographic measurements. The particle circulation patterns are in fair agreement with the experimental work of Laverman et al. (2012). Simulated bubble sizes in a 1.0 meter diameter bed show good agreement with the Darton et al. (1977) correlation. For fluidization at high pressure, the simulation results are consistent with the experimental work of Godlieb et al. (2012), where the bubble size is observed to decrease with increasing pressure. Homogeneous fluidization takes place at very high pressures. We conclude that the TFM can successfully predict the hydrodynamics of very large fluidized beds under different operating conditions.