DETERMINATION OF MINIMUM FLUIDIZATION VELOCITY FOR GAS-SOLID BEDS BY EXPERIMENTAL DATA AND NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS

摘要

The purpose of this work is to predict the minimum flu-idization velocity U_mf in a gas-solid fluidized bed. The study was carried out with an experimental apparatus for sand particles with diameters between 310μm and 590pm, and density of 2,590kg/m~3. The experimental results were compared with numerical simulations developed in MFIX (Multiphase Flow with Interphase eXchange) open source code [1], for three different sizes of particles: 310mum, 450μm and 590μm. A homogeneous mixture with the three kinds of particles was also studied. The influence of the particle diameter was presented and discussed. The Ergun equation was also used to describe the minimum fluidization velocity. The experimental data presented a good agreement with Ergun equation and numerical simulations.