Experimental study on size-dependency of effective permittivity of particle-gas mixture with agglomeration

The effective medium approximation (EMA) theory is the basis of a capacitance sensor used for concen-tration measurementof a particulate solid flow, its measurementresultis independenton particle size. In existence ofparticle agglomeration or aggradation, however, it is found that the effective permittivity of a gas/solid mixture is de-pendent on particle size. In this paper, a parallel plate, differential capacitance sensor is utilized to investigate theinfluence of particle size on the effective permittivity of the mixture in such a case. Static experiments using threematerials including glass, limestone and quartz particles were carried out in an off-line manner. The volume fractionof particles being tested ranged from20×10-6to 600×10-6, while the particle size was between 3 and 100μm.Experimental results showthat the effective permittivity of a particle-gas mixture with particle agglomeration is largerthan that predicted by EMA and the smaller the particle size, the larger the effective permittivity. The experimentprocess and analysis results are discussed in detail in the paper.