Extending the EMMS/bubbling model to fluidization of binary particle mixture: Formulation and steady-state validation

The EMMS/bubbling model originally proposed for fluidization of monodisperse particles is extended to fluidization of binary particle mixture in this study.The dense and dilute phases are considered to comprise of two types of particles differing in size and/or density.Governing equations and the stability condition are then formulated and solved by using an optimization numerical scheme.The effects of bubble diameter are first investigated and a suitable bubble diameter correlation is chosen.Preliminary validation for steady state behavior shows the extended model can fairly capture the overall hydrodynamic behaviors in terms of volume fraction of bubbles and average bed voidage for both monodisperse and binary particle systems.This encourages us to integrate this model with CFD for more validations in the future.

Numerical investigation for the suitable choice of bubble diameter correlation for EMMS/bubbling drag model

Mesoscale bubbles exist inherently in bubbling fluidized beds and hence should be considered in the constitutive modeling of the drag force.The energy minimization multiscale bubbling(EMMS/bubbling)drag model takes the effects of mesoscale structures(i.e.,bubbles)into the modeling of drag coefficient and thus improves the coarse-grid simulation of bubbling and turbulent fluidized beds.However,its dependence on the bubble diameter correlation has not been thoroughly investigated.The hydrodynamic disparity between homogeneous and heterogeneous fluidization is accounted for by the heterogeneity index,H_(d),which can be affected by choice of bubble diameter correlation.How this choice of bubble diameter correlation influences the model prediction calls for further fundamental research.This article incorporated seven different bubble diameter correlations into EMMS/bubbling drag model and studied their effects on H_(d).The performance of these correlations has been compared with the correlation used previously by EMMS/bubbling drag model.We found that some of the correlations predicted lower Hd by order of a magnitude than the correlation used by the original EMMS/bubbling drag.Based on such analysis,we proposed a modification in the EMMS drag model for bubbling and turbulent fluidized beds.A computational fluid dynamics(CFD)simulation using two-fluid model with the modified EMMS/bubbling drag model was performed for two bubbling and one turbulent fluidized beds.Voidage distribution,time averaged solid concentration and axial solid concentration profiles were studied and compared with the previous version of the EMMS/bubbling drag model and experimental data.We found that the right choice of bubble diameter correlations can significantly improve the results for CFD simulations.

Hydrodynamics in commercial-scale internally circulating fluidized beds with different central downcomer outlets

Standpipes,or downcomers,are commonly used in fluidized beds to transport particles.The outlet structure of the downcomer greatly affects the performance of flow from it and even overall reactor performance.In this study,the hydrodynamics in commercial-scale internally circulating fluidized beds(ICFBs)with central downcomers having different outlet structures was investigated using computational fluid dynamics simulations with an energy minimization multi-scale drag model.The predicted results closely agreed with experimental data.Results showed that in an ICFB with a downcomer outlet directly open to the bed(model A),nearly 12.7%to 5.4%of the gas in the draft tube bypasses into the downcomer.In the ICFB models B and C with a conic baffle below the downcomer,the gas bypass is significantly weakened or even eliminated when the diameter of the conic baffle is 1.1 times that of the downcomer(model C).In addition,the solids circulation mass flux in ICFBs increased by about 62.5%,from 126.8 kg/(m2 s)in model A to 206 kg/(m2 s)in model C.