Gas-powder flow and powder accumulation in a packed bed II: Numerical study

A mathematical model is proposed to describe gas-powder flow in a bed packed with particles. The model is the same as the two fluid model developed on the basis of the space-averaged theorem in terms of the governing equations but extended to consider the interactions between gas, powder and packed particles, as well as the static and dynamic holdups of powder. In particular, a method is proposed to determine the boundary between dynamic and stagnant zones with respect to powder phase, i.e., the profile of the powder accumulation zone. The validity of numerical modeling is confirmed by comparing the predicted and measured distributions of powder flow and accumulation under various flow conditions. On this basis, the role of gas-powder and powder-particle forces relative to the gravity force in controlling the powder flow and accumulation is analyzed. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.