(112c) Fully Coupled CFD-DEM Model for Dense Gas-Particle Flows in Cyclones

It is widely accepted that combined computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and discrete element method (DEM) (CFD-DEM) when fully coupled is the most accurate way to model the granular flows as it has the least amount of assumptions and resolves all particle-particle interactions. The downside being the heavy computational expense. To address this issue, coarse grain models are used to help with lowering down the computational requirements significantly. In coarse grain model, each simulated particle is actually a parcel that represents multiple smaller identical particles. This model treats each parcel as a single large particle and computes the contact between the parcels instead of individual particle therefore it can use a larger time-step and speed up the simulation at the cost of a small loss of fidelity in describing the details of individual contacts.

Here, we take advantage of the parcel contact coarse grain particle model, a newer type of coarse grain models that resolves parcel contacts without deriving the force from the inserted load on representative fine particle, to simulate the behavior of dense gas-particle flows in a Stairmand cyclone using STAR-CCM+. We compare the results and runtime with conventional approach and show the capability of this model for various industrial applications varying from coal processing to fluidized bed.