Experimental validation of Lagrangian-Eulerian simulations of fluidized beds

The present study aims to validate two-dimensional Lagrangian-Eulerian simu lations of gas-solid fluidized beds by comparing these with dedicated exper imental data obtained with polystyrene Geldart type D particles of 1.545 ni m size. Experimental data on pressure, voidage, and bed height fluctuations, and th e power spectral density are compared with three different implementations of the Lagrangian-Eulerian model. Though qualitative trends found in the ex periment are correctly reproduced by the simulations, it is found that the simulations are particularly sensitive to porosity estimation procedures us ed in the three different simulation strategies employed. Furthermore, the phenomenon of particle clustering predicted by the model does not conform t o experimental observations; this is because the physics of the break-up of clusters is not properly captured in the Lagrangian-Eulerian model. (C) 20 01 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.