CFD simulation of gas-solid flow in a spouted bed with a non-porous draft tube

A multi-fluid Eulerian-Eulerian approach incorporating the kinetic theory of granular flow was used to simulate a spouted bed containing non-porous draft tube. Drag function and coefficient of restitution were investigated. Solid and gas velocity vector, gas flow rate in annulus and spout regions and longitudinal pressure distribution were evaluated. In addition, the effects of the entrainment height and the draft tube diameter were studied. Simulation indicates the formation of three regions namely, annulus, spout and fountain: similar to a conventional spouted bed. Current model predicts acceptable results in both spout and annulus regions. Simulation results indicate that the model can be employed for both mono-size and multi-size particles reasonably. This paper provides useful basis for further works on understanding gas-solid flow mechanism in spouted beds containing a non-porous draft tube. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.