fluidized bed

Simulation of a fluidized bed. Fluid flow is introduced at the bottom of the vessel. As the fluid flows through the particles, they start to behave in a fluid-like manner. Hence the name of this process, fluidisation. Fluidized beds are used in many industrial processes. E.g.: Mixing, catalytic cracking, combustion, separation of solids and granulation.

The left-hand figure shows the particle motion and some of the flow streamlines. The pressure in the vessel is shown in the right-hand figure.

In this simulation, the particle movement and collisions are performed using the Discrete Element Method (DEM), while the fluid is simulated using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). This is a two-way coupling, the particles influence the flow due to their presence and the flow moves the particles.