STOCHASTIC BEHAVIOR OF FLUIDIZED PARTICLES IN A LIQUID-SOLID FLUIDIZED BED

In a liquid-solid fluidized bed, the apparently irregular or stochastic behavior of particles gives rise to various flow regimes depending on parameters such as the particle size, liquid flow rate, static bed height and axial position in the bed. It is highly plausible that this irregular behavior manifests itself as pressure fluctuations; thus, the effects of these parameters on the particle behavior or the particle flow regime were investigated through measurement and spectral analysis of the pressure fluctuations. The results indicate that the amplitude of pressure fluctuations exhibits a maximum and that the decay constant in the autocorrelation function attains its minimum at the intermediate liquid flow rate where the particle flow regime undergoes transition from the cluster circulation to the individual quasi random motion. The model composed of the periodic and stochastic components of pressure fluctuations, is in good accord with the experimental results in terms of both the autocorrelation and power spectral density functions.