Simulation of particles and gas flow behavior in a riser using a filtered two-fluid model

Flow behavior of gas and particles is predicted by a filtered two-fluid model by taking into the effect of particle clustering on the interphase momentum-transfer account. The filtered gas–solid two-fluid model is proposed on the basis of the kinetic theory of granular flow. The subgrid closures for the solid pressure and drag coefficient (Andrews et al., 2005) and the solid viscosity (Riber et al., 2009) are used in the filtered two-fluid model. The model predicts the heterogeneous particle flow structure, and the distributions of gas and particle velocities and turbulent intensities. Simulated solids concentration and mass fluxes are in agreement with experimental data. Predicted effective solid phase viscosity and pressure increase with the increase of model constant c_g and c_s. At the low concentration of particles, simulations indicate that the anisotropy is obvious in the riser. Simulations show the subgrid closures for viscosity of gas phase and solid phase led to a qualitative change in the simulation results.     

Numerical simulation and validation of dilute turbulent gas-particle flow with inelastic collisions and turbulence modulation

This work describes a theoretical and numerical study of turbulent gas-particle flows in the Eulerian framework. The equations describing the flow are derived employing Favre averaging. The closures required for the equations describing the particulate phase are derived from the kinetic theory of granular flow. The kinetic theory proposed originally is extended to incorporate the effects of the continuous fluid on the particulate phase behavior. Models describing the coupling between the continuous phase kinetic energy and particulate phase granular temperature are derived, discussed, and their effect on the flow predictions is shown.The derived models are validated with benchmark experimental results of a fully developed turbulent gas-solid flow in a vertical pipe. The effect of the models describing the influence of turbulence on the particle motion as well as the turbulence modulation due to the presence of particles is analyzed and discussed.     

摩擦-动力应力模型研究喷动床内气固两相流动过程

考虑颗粒滑动的半持续性接触应力和颗粒碰撞瞬时接触应力对颗粒相应力的贡献,建立了喷动床内气体颗粒两相流动计算模型。采用颗粒动理学和Johnson 等的摩擦应力模型,数值模拟喷动床颗粒流动过程,获得了喷动床喷射区、环隙区和喷泉区内颗粒流动特性。模拟计算与He等的实验结果进行了对比。同时分析了摩擦应力模型对颗粒相黏度变化的影响,表明中速颗粒流的颗粒相摩擦应力模型将直接影响喷动床气体颗粒两相流动的预测。     

Modeling of core flow in a gas-solids riser

The heterogeneous flow structure in gas-solids riser reactors is typically represented by an upward solids flow in the core region and a back-mixing downward solids flow in the wall region. The hydrodynamic and reaction characteristics in these two regions are highly different, as most reactions with fresh catalyst solids occur in the core region and mostly spent catalyst solids are found in the wall region. Gross understanding on gas-solids riser flow can be conveniently obtained from a cross-section averaged one-dimensional modeling approach, which is probably only valid for the core region. The success of such an approach, however, has to rely on the appropriate modeling of controlling mechanisms of riser flows. Our recent studies show that commonly-employed Richardson-Zaki equation overestimates the hydrodynamic forces in the dense phase and acceleration regimes; there is also a non-negligible effect of solids collision on solids acceleration, and the wall effect should be taken into account in terms of wall boundary and back flow mixing. In this paper we propose a new mechanistic modeling to describe the hydrodynamics of upward flow of solids in a gas-solids riser, with new formula of hydrodynamic phase interactions. The modeling results are validated against published measurements of pressure and solids volume fraction in a wide range of particle property, gas velocity and solid mass flux. Parametric effects of operation conditions such as transport gas velocity and solid mass flux on hydrodynamic characteristics of riser flows are predicted.     

Critical comparison of hydrodynamic models for gas-solid fluidized beds—Part I : bubbling gas-solid fluidized beds operated with a jet

In the Eulerian approach to model gas-solid fluidized beds closures are required for the internal momentum transfer in the particulate phase. Firstly, two closure models, one semi-empirical model assuming a constant viscosity of the solid phase (CVM) and a second model based on the kinetic theory of granular flow (KTGF), have been compared in this part in their performance to describe bubble formation at a single orifice and the time-averaged porosity profiles in the bed using experimental data obtained for a pseudo two-dimensional fluidized bed operated with a jet in the center. Numerical simulations have shown that bubble growth at a nozzle with a jet is mainly determined by the drag experienced by the gas percolating through the compaction region around the bubble interface, which is not much influenced by particle-particle interactions, so that the KTGF and CVM give very similar predictions. However, this KTGF model does not account for the long term and multi particle-particle contacts (frictional stresses) and under-predicts the solid phase viscosity at the wall as well as around the bubble and therefore over-predicts the bed expansion. Therefore, in the later part of the paper, the bubble growth at a single orifice and the time-averaged porosity distribution in the bed predicted by the KTGF model with and without frictional stresses are compared with experimental data. The model predictions by the KTGF are improved significantly by the incorporation of frictional stresses, which are however strongly influenced by the empirical parameters in this model. In Part II the comparison of the CVM and KTGF with experimental results is extended to freely bubbling fluidized beds.     

Flow behaviors of a large spout-fluid bed at high pressure and temperature by 3D simulation with kinetic theory of granular flow

Flow behaviors of a large spout-fluid bed (I.D. 1.0 m) at high pressure and temperature were investigated by Eulerian simulation. The gas phase was modeled with k − ε turbulent model and the particle phase was modeled with kinetic theory of granular flow. The development of an internal jet, gas-solid flow patterns, particle concentrations, particle velocities and jet penetration depths at high pressure and temperature at different operating conditions were simulated. The results show that the bed operated at an initial bed height larger than the maximum spoutable bed height resembles the flow patterns of jetting fluidized beds. The radial profiles of particle velocities and concentrations at high temperature and pressure have the similar characteristic shapes to those at ambient pressure and temperature. The particle concentrations and velocities appear to depend on the bed heights when increasing pressure while keeping the gas velocities and temperature constant. The particle velocities in the lower region of the bed increase with increasing pressure, while they tend to decrease in the middle and upper regions of the bed. The particle concentrations have an opposite dependency with increasing pressure. They decrease in the lower region of the bed but increase in the middle and upper regions of the bed. Besides, the jet penetration depths are found to increase with increasing pressure.     

Numerical simulations of gas-solid flow in tapered risers

Hydrodynamic behavior of gas-solid flow in tapered risers was simulated using the two-fluid model based on the kinetic theory of granular flow representing the constitutive relations of the solid phase. Present numerical model was verified by comparing with experimentally measured solid mass fluxes, particle concentrations and velocities in column risers. Computed results showed that the core-annular flow structure existing in the column riser may disappear in the tapered risers. The distributions of particle concentration tend to be more uniform in the tapered riser than that in the column riser under the same operating conditions. The uniform particle distribution can be achieved by changing the inclined angle of the tapered riser under specific operating conditions.     

Numerical simulations of flow behavior of gas and particles in spouted beds using frictional-kinetic stresses model

Flow behavior of gas and particles is simulated in the spouted beds using a Eulerian-Eulerian two-fluid model on the basis of kinetic theory of granular flow. The kinetic-frictional constitutive model for dense assemblies of solids is incorporated. The kinetic stress is modeled using the kinetic theory of granular flow, while the friction stress is from the combination of the normal frictional stress model proposed by Johnson and Jackson (1987) and the frictional shear viscosity model proposed by Schaeffer (1987) to account for strain rate fluctuations and slow relaxation of the assembly to the yield surface. An inverse tangent function is used to provide a smooth transitioning from the plastic and viscous regimes. The distributions of concentration, velocity and granular temperature of particles are obtained in the spouted bed. Calculated particle velocities and concentrations in spouted beds are in agreement with the experimental data obtained by He et al. (1994a, b). Simulated results indicate that flow behavior of particles is affected by the concentration of the transition point in spouted beds.     

Prediction of particle motion in a two-dimensional bubbling fluidized bed using discrete hard-sphere model

The solids motion in a gas-solid fluidized bed was investigated using a discrete hard-sphere model. Detailed collision between particles and a nearest list method are presented. The turbulent viscosity of gas phase was predicted by subgrid scale (SGS) model. The interaction between gas and particles phases was governed by Newton's third law. The distributions of concentration, velocity and granular temperature of particles are obtained. The radial distribution function is calculated from the simulated spatio-temporal particle distribution. The normal and shear stresses of particles are predicted from the simulated instantaneous particle velocity. The pressure and viscosity of particles are obtained from both the kinetic theory of granular flow and the calculated stresses of particles. For elastic particles the individual lateral and vertical particle velocity distribution functions are isotropic and Maxwellian. The observed anisotropy becomes more pronounced with increasing degree of inelasticity of the particles.     

Numerical and experimental studies on the flow multiplicity phenomenon for gas-solids two-phase flows in CFB risers

The flow multiplicity phenomenon in circulating fluidized bed (CFB) risers, i.e. under the same superficial gas velocity and solids circulation rate, the CFB risers may sometimes exhibit multiple flow structures, was numerically and experimentally investigated in this study. To investigate the flow multiplicity phenomenon, the experiments of gas-solids two-phase flows in a 2-D CFB riser with different flow profiles at the inlet of the CFB riser were conducted. Specially designed gas inlet distributors with add-ons are used to generate different flow profiles at the inlet of the CFB rise. The CFD model using Eulerian-Eulerian approach with k-ε turbulence model for each phase was employed to numerically analyze the flow multiplicity phenomenon. It is experimentally and numerically proved that for gas-solids two-phase flows, the flow profiles in the fully-developed region are dominated by the flow profiles at the inlet. The solids concentration profile is closely coupled with the velocity profile, and the inlet solids concentration and velocity profiles can largely influence the fully-developed solids concentration and velocity profiles.     

Extension of the kinetic theory of granular flow to include dense quasi-static stresses

Fluidized bed technology has diverse industrial applications ranging from the gasification of coal in the power industry to chemical reactions for the plastic industry. Due to their complex chaotic non-linear behaviour understanding the hydrodynamic behaviour in fluidized beds is often limited to pressure drop measurements and a mass balance of the system. Computational fluid dynamics has the capability to model multiphase flows and can assist in understanding gas-solid fluidized beds by modeling their hydrodynamics. The multiphase Eulerian-Eulerian gas-solid model, extended and validated here improves on the kinetic theory of granular flow by including a closure term for the quasi-static stress associated with the long term particle contact at high solid concentrations. Similar quasi-static models have been widely applied to slow granular flow such as chute flow, flow down an incline plane and geophysical flow. However combining the kinetic theory of granular flow and the quasi-static stress model for the application of fluidized beds is limited. The objective of the present paper is to compare two quasi-static stress models to the experimental fluidized bed data of Bouillard et al. [4]. A quasi-static granular flow model (QSGF) initially developed by Gray and Stiles [18] is compared to the commonly used Srivastava and Sundaresan [37]. Both models show good agreement with the experimental bubble diameter and averaged porosity profiles. However only the QSGF model shows a distinct asymmetry in the bubble shape which was documented by Bouillard et al. [4].     

Hydrodynamic modelling of binary mixture in a gas bubbling fluidized bed using the kinetic theory of granular flow

A multi-fluid Eularian CFD model with closure relationships according to the kinetic theory of granular flow has been applied to study the motions of particles in the gas bubbling fluidized bed with the binary mixtures. The mutual interactions between the gas and particles and the collisions among particles were taken into account. Simulated results shown that the hydrodynamics of gas bubbling fluidized bed related with the distribution of particle sizes and the amount of energy dissipated in particle-particle interaction. In order to obtain realistic bed dynamics from fundamental hydrodynamic models, it is important to correctly take the effect of particle size distribution and energy dissipation due to non-ideal particle-particle interactions into account.     

Numerical simulation of flow behavior of particles and clusters in riser using two granular temperatures

Cluster in CFB riser significantly affects performance of circulating fluidized beds. To model hydrodynamic behavior in CFB risers, three phase flows were assumed in the riser, the gas phase, the dispersed particle phase, and the clusters phase. The gas-solid multi-fluid model is extended to give the macroscopic averaged equations with constitutive equations for both particle phases from kinetic theory of granular flow. The clusters and the dispersed particles have their own fluctuating energy or two individual granular temperatures. Interactions between the cluster and its surrounding dispersed particles were obtained from kinetic theory of granular flow. Drag force for gas to dispersed particles and the clusters are empirically determined. The momentum exchange between dispersed particles and clusters is modeled using the concept of molecular dynamics. Cluster properties are predicted with the cluster-based approach. The distributions of volume fractions and velocities of gas, dispersed particles and clusters are predicted. Computed solid mass fluxes and volume fractions agree with Manyele et al. [S.V. Manyele, J.H. Parssinen, J.X. Zhu, Characterizing particle aggregates in a high-density and high-flux CFB riser, Chemical Engineering Journal, 88 (2002) 151-161.] and Knowlton [T.M. Knowlton, Modelling benchmark exercise. Workshop at the Eighth Engineering Foundation Conference on Fluidization, Tours, France, 1995.] experimental data.     

CFD simulations of bubbling beds of rough spheres

Hydrodynamics of three-dimensional gas-solid bubbling fluidized beds are numerically analyzed. The particle-particle interactions are simulated from the kinetic theory for flow of dense, slightly inelastic, slightly rough sphere proposed by Lun [1991. Kinetic theory for granular flow of dense, slightly inelastic, slightly rough sphere. Journal of Fluid Mechanics 233, 539-559] to account for rough sphere binary collisions and the frictional stress model proposed by Johnson et al. [1990. Frictional-collisional equations of motion for particulate flows and their application to chutes. Journal of Fluid Mechanics 210, 501-535] to consider the frictional contact forces between particles. The present model is evaluated by measured particle distributions and velocities of Yuu et al. [2001. Numerical simulation of air and particle motions in group-B particle turbulent fluidized bed. Powder Technology 118, 32-44] and experimental bed expansion of Taghipour et al. [2005. Experimental and computational study of gas-solid fluidized bed hydrodynamics. Chemical Engineering Science 60, 6857-6867]. Our computed results indicated that the present model gives better agreement with experimental data than the results from original kinetic theory for frictionless slightly inelastic sphere of Ding and Gidaspow [1990. A bubbling fluidization model using kinetic theory of granular flow. A.I.Ch.E. Journal 36, 523-538] with and without solid friction stress model.     

A model for gas-solid flow in a horizontal duct with a smooth merge of rapid-intermediate-dense flows

Granular flow in the rapid flow regime is dominated by particle-particle collisions and the constitutive relations for the solid stress are obtained from the classic kinetic theory of granular flow. In the dense flow regime, on the other hand, particles interact via enduring contacts and the solid stress can be deduced from soil mechanics theories. In this paper, constitutive equations, recently proposed by Tardos et al. [2003. Slow and intermediate flow of frictional bulk powder in the Couette geometry. Powder Technology 131, 23-39.] has been incorporated in the simulation of gas-solid flow in a horizontal duct. These equations smoothly merge the rapid granular flow solution with the so-called “intermediate” regime (where both kinetic/collisional and frictional contributions might play a role) and reduce to Coulomb yield condition for slow frictional flow (shear rate → 0). The results of this new modelling approach have shown good qualitative agreement with the reported experimental observation on wide range of gas-solid flow conditions. In this study, we also present the definition of boundaries between rapid-intermediate-dense flow regimes based on the dimensionless shear rate (λ), and a modified Reynolds number (Re). We have shown that the intermediate flow regime can be classified at approximately 0.1<λ<1.0 and 100<Re<3000.     

CFD simulation of dilute phase gas-solid riser reactors: Part I—a new solution method and flow model validation

A three-dimensional simulation of a dilute phase riser reactor (solid mass flux: ) is performed using a novel density based solution algorithm. The model equations consisting of continuity, momentum, energy and species balances for both phases, are formulated following the Eulerian-Eulerian approach. The kinetic theory of granular flow is applied. The gas phase turbulence is accounted for via a k-ε model. An extra transport equation describes the correlation between the gas and solid phase fluctuating motion. The solution algorithm allows a simultaneous integration of all the model equations in contrast to the sequential multi-loop solution in the conventional pressure based algorithms, used so far in riser simulations. The simulations show an unsteady behaviour of the flow, but a core-annulus flow pattern emerges on a time-averaged basis. The abrupt nature of the T type outlets causes a significant recirculation of gas and solid from the top of the riser. The flow near the outlets is highly non-symmetric and has a three-dimensional character. A significant decrease of the gas phase turbulence and particle granular temperature across the riser length is attributed to the presence of small particles, which is qualitatively consistent with the experimental data from literature.     

Modelling of dense and complex granular flow in high shear mixer granulator—A CFD approach

In the aspect of granulation process control, the numerical simulations appear to be a cost-effective and flexible tool to investigate the flow structure of granular materials in mixer granulators of various configurations and operating conditions. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is used in this study to model the granular flow in a vertical high shear mixer granulator. The simulation is based on the continuum model of dense-gas kinetic theory [Gidaspow, D., Bezburuah, R., Ding, J., 1992. Hydrodynamics of circulating fluidized beds, kinetic theory approach. In: Fluidization, vol. VII, Proceedings of the 7th Engineering Foundation Conference on Fluidization, Brisbane, Australia, pp. 75-82] with consideration of inter-particle friction force at dense condition [Schaeffer, D.G., 1987. Instability in the evolution equations describing incompressible granular flow. Journal of Differential Equations 66 (1), 19-50]. This study aims to verify this numerical method in modelling dense and complex granular flows, where the solids motion obtained from the simulation is validated against the experimental results of positron emission particle tracking (PEPT) technique [Ng, B.H., Kwan, C.C., Ding, Y.L., Ghadiri, M., Fan, X.F., 2007. Solids motion of calcium carbonate particles in a high shear mixer granulator: a comparison between dry and wet conditions. Powder Technology 177 (1), 1-11]. In general, the Eulerian based continuum model captures the main features of solids motion in high shear mixer granulator including the bed height and dominating flow direction (the tangential velocity). However, the continuum based kinetic-frictional model is not capable of capturing the complex vertical swirl pattern. Quantitative comparison shows over-predictions in the tangential velocity and stiff drops of the tangential velocity at the wall region. These results demonstrate the deficiency in transmitting forces in the bed of granular materials which indicate the necessity to improve the constitutive relations of dense granular materials as a continuum.     

Granular and gas-particle flows in a channel with a bidisperse particle mixture

Steady state solutions of granular and gas-particle flows in a channel with a bimodal particle mixture have been computed using kinetic theory. For granular channel flows we find granular energy equipartition breaks down with an increase in the system inelasticity and the mass ratio of particles. The effect of the particle size ratio on breakdown of energy equipartition is very small if the two particle species have the same mass. The species segregation in the solid phase is enhanced with a decrease in the system inelasticity, an increase in the average solid fraction or an increase in the size ratio, due to the competition of three diffusion forces: the thermal diffusion force, the ordinary diffusion force, and the pressure diffusion force. In addition, we find a competition mechanism exists in the equal density case (particles with equal density but different sizes) since in the equal mass case (particles with equal mass but different sizes) small particles have a higher concentration in low granular energy regions, whereas in the equal size case (particles with equal size but different masses) heavy particles have a higher concentration in low granular energy regions. These findings are in agreement with the results for granular Couette flows. For equal density particles, the segregation of large particles has a transition from the walls to the center when the restitution coefficient (e_p) decreases from 1 to 0.99. This sensitivity is reduced when the system becomes more inelastic. For a given monodisperse granular system, we show that if larger particles are mixed in the system the sensitivity of the total solid distribution to the restitution coefficient is suppressed, while if smaller particles are added in the system the situation reverses. Lastly, we extend our work to gas-particle flows in a channel where particles are fluidized by gas flowing upwards, and find that for the kinetic theory models used in the present study, the solid fraction, the species segregation and the granular energy profiles are quite similar between the granular flows and the gas-particle flows.     

Experimental study on gas-solids flows in a circulating fluidised bed using electrical capacitance tomography

It is difficult to measure the gas-solids flow in a circulating fluidised bed (CFB) because of the complicated and rapid transient process. Electrical capacitance tomography (ECT), a cross-sectional imaging technique, has been used to measure the dilute flow in a large square CFB. A sensor has been specifically designed for the measurement and a new algorithm has been developed for image reconstruction. Flow conditioning parts (internals) are designed and placed inside the CFB, aiming to enhance the contact between gas and particles in the dilute gas-solids flow. The dynamic characteristics and detailed information were obtained on two sections in the bed at different height. The performance of the internals is related to their size, combination, height in the bed and the superficial gas velocity. It has been confirmed that a particular combination of internals can increase the solids concentration in the central area of a cross-section, and can improve the probability density distribution (PDD) with a moderate gas velocity. Using a combination of a large internal at an upper location and a small one at a lower location can optimise the flow in the CFB.     

Numerical predictions of flow behavior and cluster size of particles in riser with particle rotation model and cluster-based approach

Flow behavior of particles in a circulating fluidized bed (CFB) riser is numerically simulated using a two-fluid model incorporating with the kinetic theory for particle rotation and friction stress models. The particle rotations resulting from slightly friction particle-particle collisions was considered by introducing an effective coefficient of restitution based on the kinetic theory for granular flow derived by Jenkins and Zhang [2002. Kinetic theory for identical, frictional, nearly elastic spheres. Physics of Fluids 14, 1228-1235]. The normal friction stress model proposed by Johnson et al. [1990. Frictional-collisional equations of motion for particles flows and their application to chutes. Journal of Fluid Mechanics 210, 501-535] and a modified frictional shear viscosity model proposed by Syamlal et al. [1993. MFIX Documentation and Theory Guide, DOE/METC94/1004, NTIS/DE94000087] were used as the particle frictional stress model. The drag force between gas and particle phases was modified with cluster-based approach (CBA). The flow behavior of particles and the cluster size in a riser of Wei et al. [1998. Profiles of particle velocity and solids fraction in a high-density riser. Powder Technology 100, 183-189] and Issangya et al. [2000. Further measurements of flow dynamics in a high-density circulating fluidized bed riser. Powder Technology 111, 104-113] experiments are predicted. Effects of the rotation and friction stress models on the computed results are analyzed. It is concluded that particle rotations reduce the cluster size and alter the particle flows and distributions through more particle fluctuation energy dissipations. Effects of frictional stress on flow behavior and cluster size are not significant because the particle phase in the CFB riser is not dense enough to take into account for the particle-particle contact interactions.