(97g) CFD Evaluation of the Dimensionless Groups Approach for Spouted Beds Scale-up

Dimensional analysis has been used as a powerful tool to develop a set of scaling laws for proper design of fluidized beds. He et al. (1997) has proposed a scale-up methodology for spouted beds based on matching a number of dimensionless groups by extending the scaling relationships proposed by Glicksman (1984), and proved its validity for spouted beds with small sizes by experimental study. However, these scale-up methodologies of dimensional analysis have been evaluated only based on global parameters of solid holdup and pressure signal, etc. No detailed hydrodynamics evaluation has been performed or reported. In this work, CFD approach was applied to evaluate the scale-up methodology of dimensional analysis for spouted beds. CFD simulation has been first performed on the conditions present in He et al. (1994), and has been validated using the measured parameters. Then, the conditions selected from He et al. (1997) were simulated by CFD approach to obtain the detailed hydrodynamics of spouted beds. The simulated results were used to analyze both the similarity in hydrodynamics and non-similarity in hydrodynamics by matching and non-matching the proposed dimensionless groups based on the measured global parameters.