Simulation of an internally circulating fluidized bed using a multiphase particle-in-cell method

This paper investigates the use of the multiphase particle in cell method (MP-PIC) in modelling the gas-solid flow in a laboratory-scale isothermal internally circulating fluidized bed (ICFB), and compares results with experimental observations previously published by Hadley et al. ("Experimental quantification of the solids flux in an internally circulating fluidised bed", Fluidization XIII, 2010, pp. 885-892). Glass ballotini (140 pm mean diameter) were fluidized with room temperature air, and fluidisation velocities in both the central reaction chamber and two heat exchange chambers were varied to provide nine different chamber velocity ratio conditions for investigation. The model reliably predicted the overall bed dynamics of both gas and solid flow. Predicted solid recirculation rates were generally within one standard deviation of the mean experimental values, although under-prediction tended to occur at lower fluidisation rates. It was concluded that the MP-PIC method was a reliable tool for modelling bubbling fluidized bed behaviour of non-cohesive particles. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.