NUMERICAL-SIMULATION OF PACKED-BEDS WITH MONOSIZED SPHERES IN CYLINDRICAL CONTAINERS

Several sequential packing models are applied to numerically construct packed beds of identical spheres in right circular cylindrical contai ners. The fixed packed beds are assembled on a base layer so that a ne wly added sphere is always placed at a vertical location that is stabl e under gravity. The newly added sphere may be positioned so that it i s in contact with two spheres and the container wall (wall spheres) or three other spheres in the interior of the packing (inner spheres). T he particular procedure by which wall spheres and inner spheres are ad ded to the packing is determined by a given model. The sequential mode ls calculate the center coordinates of each newly added sphere. The ce nter coordinates are used to determine the overall void fraction and t he radial void fraction in cylindrical containers with D/d greater tha n or equal to 3 and are compared with experimental data.