Prediction of flow mode transition in pneumatic conveying of fine particles using CFD

The flow mode changes from dense to dilute as fine particles are conveyed via long pipelines. Because multiple complex interactions are involved, the modeling and prediction of such a flow transition poses difficulties. In various fields of research, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has been successfully employed to address the inadequacies of the theoretical method. Using the ANSYS 16.2 software and the Eulerian-Eulerian technique, a CFD model of gas-solid flow was developed in this research. The flow-mode transition through a pipeline section (length 30 m and bore 53 mm) was predicted using the model. Fly ash was employed as the conveying material. The contours of flow parameters such as void fraction, solid volume fraction, air velocity and particle velocity were examined in different cases of simulations. For each of the four cases, the air velocity at the outlet of the pipeline section was predicted and found to be within a reasonable error margin.

Automated summary

This study developed a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model to predict the flow-mode transition of gas-solid flow when conveying fine particles through long pipelines. The model was used to examine the flow parameters in different simulation cases and the predicted air velocity at the pipeline outlet was found to be within a reasonable error margin.