Abstract: | A multi-dimensional model is developed to describe the fluid and particle dynamic behaviour of spouted beds. The position of the spout-annulus interface is determined by a variational analysis. Two-fluid equations are used to represent gas and solids motions in the spout while the vector Ergun equation and soil mechanics equations are employed to describe, respectively, gas and solids behaviour in the annulus. Using numerical finite difference methods, the set of governing equations is solved subject to carefully chosen boundary conditions. The model predictions of key hydrodynamic characteristics are in reasonable agreement with available measured data selected from the literature to represent a wide range of experimental conditions. |