Influence of contact point treatment on the cross flow mixing in a simple cubic packed bed: CFD simulation and experimental validation

The present study numerically investigates the mixing of an axial flow with a cross flow in a structured packed bed. Three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics CFD simulations have been carried out corresponding to the experimental setup. ANSYS software version 14 was used with the standard \(\upkappa \)–\(\upvarepsilon \) turbulence model. The study focuses on the effect of the contact point treatment by using three methods; gap, overlap and bridge to avoid a high skewed element in the near of contact point. A simple cubic packing with spherical particles of 52 mm diameter was used which gives a porosity of 0.48. The mixing is measured by an injection of nitrogen in the box with a structured bed of 924 spheres with an axial flow of air under different operating conditions. The following parameters were measured; height, injection velocity, volume flow rate ratio, flow conditions and location of injection. It is shown that the CFD simulation results can predict the cross flow mixing. The study revealed that the gap method produced the best experimental results.