Experimental Studies of the Effect of Wall Roughness on Particle Behavior in Gas-Particle Flows

The effect of wall roughness on particle behavior in two-phase flows in a horizontal backward-facing step is studied using a phase-Doppler particle anemometer. The results show that the wall roughness widens the particle velocity probability density distribution, enhances the redistribution of particle velocity into different directions, reduces the particle longitudinal mean velocity and increases the longitudinal and transverse fluctuation velocities and Reynolds shear stress. The effect of roughness on particle motion in the recirculation zone is weaker than that in the fully developed flow region. The effect of roughness for small particles is restricted only in the near-wall region, while that for large particles diffuses to the whole flow field.

Particle behavior in a turbulent pipe flow with a flat bed

Particle behavior in a turbulent flow in a circular pipe with a bed height h=0.5R is studied at Reb=40,000 and for two sizes of particles(5μm and 50μm)using large eddy simulation,one-way coupled with a Lagrangian particle tracking technique.Turbulent secondary flows are found within the pipe,with the curved upper wall affecting the secondary flow formation giving rise to a pair of large upper vortices above two smaller vortices close to the pipe floor.The behavior of the two sizes of particle is found to be quite different.The 50μm particles deposit forming irregular elongated particle streaks close to the pipe floor,particularly at the center of the flow and the pipe corners due to the impact of the secondary flows.The deposition and resuspension rate of the 5μm particles is high near the center of the floor and at the pipe corners,while values for the 50μm particles are greatest near the corners.Near the curved upper wall of the pipe,the deposition rate of the 5μm particles increases in moving from the wall center to the corners,and is greater than that for the larger particles due to the effects of the secondary flow.The maximum resuspension rate of the smaller particles occurs above the pipe corners,with the 50μm particles showing their highest resuspension rate above and at the corners of the pipe.

Particle collision behavior and heat transfer performance in a Na_(2)SO_(4) circulating fluidized bed evaporator

The particle collision behavior and heat transfer performance are investigated to reveal the heat transfer enhancement and fouling prevention mechanism in a Na_(2)SO_(4) circulating fluidized bed evaporator.The particle collision signals are analyzed with standard deviation by varying the amount of added particles ε(1%–3%),circulation flow velocity u(0.37–1.78 m·s^(-1)),and heat flux q(7.29–12.14 kW·m^(-2)).The results show that the enhancement factor reach up to 14.6%by adding polytetrafluoroethylene particles at ε=3%,u=1.78 m·s^(-1),and q=7.29 kW·m^(-2).Both the standard deviation of the particle collision signal and enhancement factor increase with the increase in the amount of added particles.The standard deviation increases with the increase in circulation flow velocity;however,the enhancement factor initially decreases and then increases.The standard deviation slightly decreases with the increase in heat flux at low circulation flow velocity,but initially increases and then decreases at high circulation flow velocity.The enhancement factor decreases with the increase in heat flux.The enhancement factor in Na_(2)SO_(4) solution is superior to that in water at high amount of added particles.The empirical correlation for heat transfer is established,and the model results agree well with the experimental data.

PREPARATION OF ULTRAFINE PARTICLE IRON-CARBONIDE CATALYST AND CHARACTERIZATION OF ITS CATALYTICAL BEHAVIOR

Studies on ultrafine particle catalyst have attracted many researchers' attention by its large surface area,higher activity and selectivity.Based on the mechanism of α-Fe and Fe_xC_y as the catalytical active species this paper reports for the first time the preparation method of Fe_3C ultrafine parti- cle catalyst,from highly dispersed amorphous Fe powder and free carbon.The Fe powder and free car- bon,prepared by laser pyrolysis technique,was then treated by washing and heating at high tempera- ture protected with N_2.The catalyst prepared under different experimental conditions was characterazed by means of XRD,electronic diffraction and TEM.It shows that the crystlline grain size is in a range of 1-4nm and composed of Fe_3C and α-Fe.It has been found that the ultrafine particle iron-carbonide catalyst exhibited much higher activity and selectivity to light olefins.At the standard atmosphere and 380℃ reaction temperature,the conversion of CO reached a maximum of 80%.

Analysis of particulate behavior in porous media

In this work, we analyze the behavior of the particle phase in the flow of a particle-laden mixture through a porous medium. An attempt is made to model the diffusion and dispersion processes, and to quantify the deviation terms that arise when intrinsic volume averaging is used to derive the flow equations.

Three-dimensional numerical simulation of heating and melting behaviors of cerium oxide powders in radio frequency thermal plasma

The present study aims at the numerical simulations of the melting process of cerium oxide particles in RF thermal plasma.The physical model and the calculating method were described firstly;the interaction between cerium oxide particles and plasma was analyzed;specific attention was given to the effects of particle initial size,injection velocity on the particle melting and trajectory in plasma.The influence of the temperature field and velocity field distribution of the plasma around the particle trajectory on the melting effect is analyzed,and the relationship between the heat absorption efficiency of the particles and the particle size reduction process is further determined.It is also found that there exists an optimal particle initial injection velocity which led to a more concentrated final particle size distribution and a more significant reduction of particle size.The results could provide effective guidance for understanding the plasma spheroidization process of uranium dioxide and cerium dioxide powder particles.

Flow behavior of non-spherical particle flowing in hopper

Ellipsoidal particles flowing in the hopper were simulated by using the discrete element method （DEM）, and described by the multi-element method. The contact detection algorithm and equations for ellipsoidal particle motion in hopper were developed. And the simulation results were confirmed by experiment. Additionally, the mass flow rate, pressure distribution and velocity distribu- tion of two kinds of particles were examined. The results show that the mass flow rate of ellipsoidal particles is smaller than that of spherical particles. There is a maximum value of pressure drop at the top of the junction. Besides, the pressure drop decreases with the discharging time increasing. The velocity of spherical particle is larger than that of ellipsoidal.

Bubbling behavior of cohesive particles in a two-dimensional fluidized bed with immersed tubes

Fluidization hydrodynamics are greatly influenced by inter-particle cohesive forces. This paper studies the fluidization of large cohesive particles in a two-dimensional fluidized bed with immersed tubes using “polymer coating” to introduce cohesive force, to gain better understanding of bubbling behavior when particles become cohesive and its effect on chemical processes. The results show that the cohesive force promotes bubble splitting in the tube bank region, thereby causing an increase in the number and a decline in the aspect ratio of the bubbles. As the cohesive force increases within a low level, the bubble number increases and the bubble diameter decreases, while the aspect ratio exhibits different trends at different fluidization gas velocities. The difference in the evolution of bubble size under various cohesive forces mainly takes place in the region without tubes. When the cohesive force is large enough to generate stable agglomerates on the side walls of the bed, the bubble number and the bed expansion sharply decrease. The tubes serve as a framework that promotes the agglomeration, thus accelerating defluidization. Finally, the bubble profile around tubes was studied and found to greatly depend both on the cohesive forces and the location of tubes.

Mechanical Properties and Fracture Behavior of Mg-Al/AlN Composites with Different Particle Contents

In this study, magnesium matrix composites reinforced with different loading of AlN particles were fabricated by the powder metallurgy technique. The microstructure, bending strength and fracture behavior of the resulting Mg-Al/Al N composites were investigated. It showed that the 5 wt% AlN reinforcements led to the highest densification and bending strength. The total strengthening effect of AlN particles was predicted by considering the contributions of CTE mismatch between the matrix and the particles,load bearing and Hall-Petch mechanism. The results revealed that the increase of dislocation density,the change of Mg17Al12 phase morphology, and the effective load transfer were the major strengthening contributors to the composites. The fracture of the composites altered from plastic to brittle mode with increasing reinforcement content. The regions of clustered particles in the composites were easy to be damaged under external load, and the fracture occurred mainly along grain boundaries.

Recent advances in self-propelled particles

"Active" components can be introduced into a passive system to completely change its physical behavior from its typical behavior at thermodynamic equilibrium. To reveal the interaction mechanisms between individuals, researchers have designed unique self-propelled particles to mimic the collective behavior of biological systems. This review focuses on recent theoretical and experimental advances in the study of self-propelled particle systems and their individual and collective behaviors. The potential applications of active particles in chemical, biological and environmental sensing and single particle imaging are discussed.

Solids behavior in dilute zone of a CFB riser under turbulent conditions

The behavior of the solid phase in the upper zone of a circulating fluidized bed riser was studied using a phase Doppler anemometer. Glass particles of mean diameter 107μm and superficial gas velocities UE covering the turbulent and the beginning of the fast fluidization regime were investigated. Three static bed heights were tested. Ascending and descending particles were found co-existing under all oper ating conditions tested, and at all measurement locations. Superficial gas velocity proved/happened to have a larger effect on descending particles at the wall and on ascending particles in the central region. Transversal particle velocities in both directions （toward the center and toward the wall） behaved rela- tively equivalently, with only slight difference observed at the wall. However, observation of the number of particles moving in either transversal direction showed a change in bed structure when increasing Ug. Furthermore, a balance was constantly observed between the core zone and the annulus zone where the mutual mass transfer between these two zones occurred continuously. Transition from a slow to a fast particle motion was accompanied by a transition to high levels of velocity fluctuations, and was found corresponding to the appearance of significant solid particle flow rate.

Experimental study of settling and drag on cuboids with square base

The drag on non-spherical particles is an important basic parameter for multi-phase flows such as in biomass combustion, chemical blending, and mineral processing. Though there is much experimental research on such particles, there are few results for cuboids. This paper presents data for cuboids with a square base in static glycerin-water solutions of various volume concentrations. Complex motions were observed and characterized. A dimensionless expression is given for terminal velocity ut as a function of Archimedes number Ar which is used to develop an accurate correlation for friction factor CD. The accuracy of the correlation is 7.9% compared to experimental data in the literature. For both square plates and square rods, the terminal velocity per unit mass, ut/mp, was used to characterize the influence of narticle geometry on velocity, which was shown to be linear.