Discrete particle modeling of granular temperature distribution in a bubbling fluidized bed

The discrete hard sphere particle model (DPM) is applied in this work to study numerically the distributions of particle and bubble granular temperatures in a bubbling fluidized bed. The dimensions of the bed and other parameters are set to correspond to those of Muller et al. (2008). Various drag models and operational parameters are investigated to find their influence on particle and bubble granular temperatures. Various inlet superficial gas velocities are used in this work to obtain their effect on flow characteristics. It is found that the superficial gas velocity has the most important effect on granular temperatures including bubble granular temperature, particle translational granular temperature and particle rotational granular temperature. The drag force model affects more seriously the large scale variables such as the bubble granular temperature. Restitution coefficient influences all granular temperatures to some degree. Simulation results are compared with experimental results by Muller et al. (2008) showing reasonable agreement. (C) 2012 Chinese Society of Particuology and Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.