AERODYNAMICS AND HYDRODYNAMICS OF A SWIRLING FLUIDIZED BED WITH SLOPED DISTRIBUTOR

A novel distributor termed as the sloped distributor is introduced and studied for
its aerodynamics and hydrodynamics with Geldart type D particles in a swirling
fluidized bed system. The aerodynamics study involves a validated numerical
simulation to characterize the effect three sloping angles of 10°, 13.5° and 15° in
comparison to existing flat distributor (0° sloping angle). As for the hydrodynamics
study, four extra-large Geldart type-D particles having diameters of 4.85 mm, 5.81
mm, 7.70 mm and 9.84 mm were investigated for four bed weights of0.5 kg, 0.75 kg,
1.0 kg and 1.5 kg (corresponding to four bed heights). From the aerodynamics study,
it was found that the sloping distributors improve air velocity distribution
significantly and provide a force component in the radially inward direction which
counterbalances the centrifugal force generated by the swirling motion.