A numerical and experimental study of the gas-solid flow in a fluid bed reactor

This paper describes a combined continuum and discrete model capable of simulating gas-solid two-phase flow at an individual particle level, with special reference to its validation. Both numerical and physical experiments were conducted under comparable conditions, with the later involving the use of a high-speed digital video camera. The results show that the model predictions are in good agreement with the experiments. The complex solid flow patterns caused by the lateral gas blasting and associated to either raceway or fluidisation phenomena were captured well by the model. The capability of the proposed approach is further highlighted by its depicted microdynamic information about the spatial distributions of particle-particle and fluid-particle interactions, which is key to elucidating the mechanisms governing the gas-solid two-phase flow.