Parameter estimation for a solids mixing|segregation model for gas fluidised beds

Gibilaro and Rowe in their model of a gas fluidised bed containing two particulate species introduced four arbitrary parameters linked to the known mechanisms giving rise to particle movement in such beds. In this work, these parameters are made deterministic by linking them to the physics of the bubbling bed and the particle properties. Segregation patterns are predicted from these parameters iteratively by allowing for the accompany variation with bed height of minimum fluidisation velocity and local bed behaviour. Good agreement between predicted and experimental patterns is found. So too is the dependence of mixing index on gas velocity. Agreement breaks down for high jetsam concentration systems. The model is not directly applicable when a defluidised region forms at the bottom of the bed.