Scale‐up study of spouted beds using computational fluid dynamics

Abstract

Abstract This work presents a numerical study of the hydrodynamic of spouted beds using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation. Scaling relationships proposed by He et al. [He et al., Chem. Eng. Sci. 1997; 52 :329–339] for spouted bed systems based on similitude method are numerically investigated using CFD simulation. In the present work it is verified that the spouted bed scale‐up relationships of He et al. [He et al., Chem. Eng. Sci. 1997; 52 :329–339] produce good numerical results when all of the scale‐up relationships are satisfied. It is also verified the behaviour of the numerical results when the scaling procedure is applied in a practical condition. In this case, the properties of fluid and solid are kept constant, which is a real situation of a scale‐up procedure in a spouted bed used for drying of grains. In this work it is possible to verify that CFD simulation is a useful tool to evaluate similitude methods in spouted bed (multiphase flow) systems. The commercial package FLUENT 6.3.26 was used in all simulations.