SPOUT DIAMETERS IN FULL AND HALF SPOUTED BEDS

A fiber optic probe has been used to measure spout diameters in a half -column and a full-column based on the significantly higher counts of output electric pulses in the spout region than in the annulus. The fl at wall of a semi-cylindrical spouted bed column was found to cause co nsiderable distortion of spout shapes which became approximately semi- elliptical in cross-section. Caution must therefore be exercised when using spout diameter data from the face of half-columns for spouted be d modelling and design. The often-used McNab (1972) equation was found to underestimate the spout diameters in the full-column, with an aver age deviation of 35.5%.