(95r) CFD-DEM Simulation of the Fluidization of Non-Spherical Particles in Fluidized Bed

In chemical and energy industries, fluidization concerning non-spherical particles (such as rod-like particle, disk-like particles, ellipsoidal particles, etc.) is often encountered, but research in this area is minimal. Yet understanding fluidization of non-spherical particles is crucial in many relevant industrial process. To investigate the fluidization of non-spherical particles, a CFD-DEM coupling algorithm is employed in this research to simulate a bubbling fluidized bed. The non-spherical particles are modeled by super-ellipsoids, multi-sphere models, and other particle models. The simulations results show that, the fluidization of non-spherical particles has significant differences from that of the spherical particles. The local void fraction and particle's projected face area perpendicular to fluid flow direction are directly related to the orientations of the non-spherical particles, which has a significant influence on the particle drag force and fluidization. Due to the significance of particle orientation, we further investigate the factors that influence the distribution of particle orientations. The results show that particle orientation depends on the fluidization time, fluidization velocity, and structure of the fluidized bed.