Deterministic chaos: a new tool in fluidized bed design and operation

Deterministic chaos theory offers new and useful quantitative tools to characterize the non-linear dynamic behaviour of fluidized beds. The dimension and entropy of the fluidized bed's strange attractor can be used for various purposes, such as the classification of fluidization regimes or fluidized bed scale-up. This is illustrated by experimental and model simulation examples of deterministic chaotic behaviour in ambient gas-solids fluidized beds of Geldart B particles. It is shown that the Kolmogorov entropy is dependent on, amongst other parameters, the gas velocity and the bed aspect ratio. In dimensionless scaling of fluidized bed reactors this type of relationship can probably be of use in establishing full dynamic similarity.