La problématique de l’homogénéité de traitement mécanique et thermique d’un lit particulaire bi-disperse en tailles ou en densités dans un tambour tournant horizontal a été abordée. Dans la première partie, le mélange des billes sphériques millimétriques dans un tambour de type ‘tranche’ a été observé expérimentalement à l’aide des maquettes originales et simulé numériquement à l’aide d’un code commercial de type DEM. En ajustant le coefficient de frottement entre les billes, un accord satisfaisant a été obtenu entre les résultats des simulations et des expériences. Le lit a été globalement caractérisé par l’indice de ségrégation radial, la répartition des billes dans la couche frontale et l’angle de talus dynamique. Des phénomènes importants de ségrégation radiale et axiale ont été mis en évidence. Une réduction très significative de l’indice de ségrégation radiale a été obtenue dans le cas des ailettes multiples et longues par rapport au cas avec peu d’ailettes courtes ou pas d’ailettes. Dans la deuxième partie, le chauffage des billes par contact avec la paroi périphérique du tambour a été simulé par la méthode DEM. Des lits mono-disperse, bi-disperse (comme dans la partie 1), et à dispersion gaussienne ont été considérés. Les indices de ségrégation mécanique et thermique ont été comparés pour les différents types de lits et différentes configurations d’ailettes. L’intensité de la ségrégation thermique a été renforcée, dans l’ensemble, par la ségrégation mécanique et a été la plus forte pour le lit bi-disperses en densités. L’augmentation de la hauteur et du nombre des ailettes a considérablement amélioré l’homogénéité thermique du lit et la vitesse globale de chauffage / Product homogeneity issue during mechanical and thermal processing of a bi-dispersed bed with two particles’ sizes or two particles’ densities in a horizontal rotary drum was considered. In the first part, the mixing of milli-metric size spherical beads in a two-dimensional drum was simulated by means of a commercial discrete element software and optically observed in a specially designed laboratory scale device. The spatial distribution of the particles in the front bed section, the radial mechanical segregation index and the dynamic slope angle were analyzed. After adjusting the friction coefficient, the simulation results were close to the experimental ones. Important phenomena of radial and axial segregation have been highlighted. The radial segregation index was found to be significantly decreased by applying an important number of long baffles, while using few short baffles had practically no influence on segregation intensity. In the second part, the heating of the bed of spherical beads in a 2D drum with hot peripheral wall was simulated by means of the discrete element software. Mono-dispersed, gaussian-dispersed and bi-dispersed beds (same as in part 1) were considered. The mechanical segregation and the thermal segregation indexes were calculated for the different types of bed and for different baffles configurations. The thermal segregation was found to be generally enhanced by the mechanical segregation and reached its highest values for the bi-density bed. Increasing the number and the length of the baffles considerably improved the overall heating rate and the thermal homogeneity of the considered beds

O estudo dos fatores intervenientes, micro e macropropriedades dos lodos de estação de tratamento de água (ETA), no desaguamento por sistemas naturais, com uso de leito de drenagem, constituiu o principal foco desta pesquisa. Assim, ensaios de desaguamento por leito de drenagem foram realizados com amostras de lodos de sulfato de alumínio e de cloreto de polialumínio (PA\'CL\') e monitoramento das variáveis climáticas. Os resultados comprovaram o desempenho do leito de drenagem para redução de volume, da ordem de 80% e 90% para os lodos de PA\'CL\' e sulfato de alumínio e teor de sólidos final respectivamente de 30 a 90%, sem consumo de energia. Na fase de drenagem, independente do tipo e volume de lodo aplicado, a vazão de drenagem foi maior quanto menor o valor da taxa de aplicação de sólidos - TAS (Kg/\'M POT.2\') (fração volumétrica de partículas). As variáveis analisadas, teor de sólidos, distribuição de tamanho de partículas, morfologia e composição das partículas entre outros, na massa de lodo bruto e desaguado indicaram diferentes mecanismos de secagem e conseqüente influencia na velocidade de secagem. O uso do fluxo de massa de água evaporada revelou-se adequado para avaliar a fase de secagem. O estudo das micro e macropropriedades do lodo mostram-se decisivos para balisarem pesquisas de desenvolvimento dos sistemas de desaguamento e de reúso dos lodos de ETAs. / The study of involved factors, micro and macroproperties of sludge from water treatment plants (WTP) in dewatering by natural systems with the use of draining beds is the main focus of this research. For this purpose, dewatering assays by draining beds were done with samples from aluminium sulphate and polyaluminium chloride (PA\'CL\') sludge, and monitoring of the climatic variables along the experiments. The results proved the performance of the draining beds in reducing the volume, ranging from 80 to 90% for the sludges from PA\'CL\' and aluminium sulphate and the final rate of solids from 30 to 90%, without consuming the energy. In dewatering phase, independently of the type and volume of the applied sludge, the bigger the flow of dewatering the lesser the value of the applied rate of solids (TAS, Kg/\'M POT.2\', volumetric fraction of particles). The analised variables, solid rates, distribution of the height of the particles, morphology, and composition of the particles among others, in the mass of the brute and dewatered sludge indicated different mechanisms of drying and consequently influence in the rate of drying. The use of the flow of mass of humidity revealed adequate to evaluate the drying phase. The studies of micro and macroproperties of the sludge were decisive to conduct researches of development of dewatering systems and reusing of the sludges from WTP´s.

Os estudos sobre rios em leitos fluviais rochosos têm servido de base para o entendimento da evolução das paisagens que se inserem. A análise mais detalhada das litologias que compõem estes leitos fluviais, se tornam desta forma, imprescindíveis para o entendimento da evolução das morfologias resultantes da interação, entre os processos fluviais e a resistência erosiva imposta pela rocha. A presente pesquisa visou obter a resposta geomorfológica de canais com leito predominantemente rochoso, sobre duas unidades litológicas da Formação Serra Geral nível superior. A primeira de origem vulcânica básica, é composta pelos Basaltos Hipoialinos e a segunda de composição ácida, é formada pelos Riodacitos. Partiu-se da análise da estruturação física de cada litologia pertencente a estas unidades e das fragilidades inerentes a cada uma, em relação aos processos fluviais mais atuantes sobre os leitos fluviais de três cursos principais e de seus principais afluentes. Utilizou-se do modelo de regressão denominado, relação declive-área (S = ks A-) para as análises das variações de declividade e de concavidade dos perfis dos rios a fim de compreender quais os principais controles que determinam a modificação dos ajustamentos morfológicos. Foi observado que as duas unidades litológicas apresentam alta erodibilidade frente a potência de escoamento. Primeiro porque o intemperismo generalizado prepara ambas as rochas para os principais processos fluviais identificados: abrasão/macro abrasão e arrancamento. Estes processos atuam mais intensamente sobre o fraturamento rochoso, que mesmo distinto entre as duas litologias (Hipoialinos = ~50 m/m2; Riodacitos = ~9 m/m2) permitem a erosão efetiva dos leitos fluviais. Segundo que, a interferência tectônica altera a dispersão dos dados da relação declive-área integral dos canais fluviais (R2), mascarando as tendências de ajustamento das declividades dos perfis longitudinais. Os valores de ajustamento da potência do escoamento, sobre a resistência erosiva das rochas, só pôde ser vislumbrados, a partir da análise dos índices de concavidade () e de declividade (ks), de acordo com os segmentos discretizados dos perfis longitudinais em domínios homogêneos, de cada litologia pertencente ao leito fluvial. A separação dos limiares superiores que representam os trechos de maior declividade, em relação aos limiares inferiores, que representam os trechos de menor declividade relativa, também foi necessária para a compreensão das tendências de ajuste morfológico pela potência do escoamento. / Studies about rivers in rocky riverbeds have served as a basis for understanding the evolution of the landscapes that are inserted. The more detailed analysis of the lithologies that composes these riverbeds are thus essential for the understanding of the evolution of the resulting morphologies from the interaction between the river processes and the erosive resistance imposed by the rocks of the riverbeds. The present research aimed at obtaining the geomorphological response of channels with rock layer, on two lithological units of the Serra Geral Formation, upper level. The first one of basic volcanic origin, is composed of basalts and the second of acid composition, is formed by rhyodacites. The starting point was the analysis of the physical structure of each lithology belonging to these units and of the inherent weaknesses in each one, in relation to the fluvial processes most active on the river layers of three main courses and their main tributaries. The regression model called the slope-area ratio (S = ks A-) was used for the analyzes of the slope and concavity variations of the river profiles in order to understand the main controls that determine the modification of the morphological adjustments. It was observed that the two lithological units present high erodibility against the flow power. First, because the general weathering prepares both rocks for the main fluvial processes identified: abrasion / macro abrasion and pulling out. These fluvial processes act more intensely on the rocky fracture, which, even distinguished between the two lithologies (basalts = 50 m / m2; rhyodacites = 9 m / m2), allows for the effective erosion of the riverbeds. Second, tectonic interference alters the data dispersion of the slope-area integral relation of the fluvial channels (R2), masking the adjustment tendencies of the slope longitudinal profiles. The values of the adjustment of the river profiles could only be glimpsed, according to the indices of concavity () and slope (ks), according to the discretized segments of the longitudinal profiles, in homogeneous domains, of each lithology belonging to the riverbed. The separation of the upper thresholds that represent the sections of greater slope, in relation to the lower thresholds, which represent the sections of smaller relative slope, was also necessary to understand the morphological adjustment tendencies of the profile slopes.

O método INTERMED é um instrumento que classifica a complexidade biopsicossocial de pacientes em diversos níveis de assistência, qualifica o cuidado e melhora a comunicação interprofissional. Ele permite avaliar a complexidade do paciente através da investigação de quatro domínios: biológico, psicológico, social e sistema de saúde. Promove o cuidado integrado com foco no paciente e viabiliza práticas de gestão da clínica e de leitos hospitalares. O objetivo principal desta pesquisa foi realizar a tradução, adaptação transcultural e validação do método INTERMED para realidade hospitalar brasileira. Os objetivos secundários foram avaliar a consistência interna do método, estudar a interface dos resultados do INTERMED com dados sociodemográficos e verificar sua contribuição no gerenciamento de leitos hospitalares e gestão da clínica. O instrumento foi aplicado a um total de 300 pacientes, com mais de 5 dias de internação hospitalar, com idade >=a 21 anos e média de idade de 57,8 anos, sendo que 58,3% eram do sexo masculino. Esta amostra foi coletada entre setembro e dezembro de 2011 em três hospitais da cidade de São Paulo, a saber, um privado (A), um de ensino (B) e um público(C). A validação e adaptação transcultural ocorreram em cinco fases: tradução, síntese, retrotradução, avaliação e validação por um comitê de juízes e pré-teste. A validação da tradução pelo comitê de juízes foi realizada pelo Índice de Validade de Conteúdo e a consistência interna do instrumento foi avaliada pelo coeficiente alpha de Crombach. A estrutura do documento foi estudada pelo Coeficiente de Correlação de Spearman e a validade preditiva para tempo de internação, pela relação entre a pontuação total do score do INTERMED e o tempo de hospitalização dos pacientes. A validação da tradução foi de 94,2% de equivalência semântica, 94,3% equivalência idiomática e 86,6% de equivalência cultural entre o instrumento original e o traduzido. No pré-teste, obteve-se acima de 90% de compreensão em todos os itens do INTERMED. Os scores médios obtidos com o INTERMED foram de 15,20e 21 nas instituições A,B e C respectivamente. Isto significa, pela classificação, do instrumento, que nas três instituições os pacientes não eram complexos (<21 pontos). A consistência interna e precisão do instrumento foram consideradas boa para as três instituições. As correlações entre os domínios do instrumento foram positivas e significantes em sua maioria. Em relação à validade preditiva, tempos maiores de internação foram observados em pacientes com escores maiores. Os dados encontrados sugerem que para além da gravidade biológica, o tempo de internação pode estar relacionado aos aspectos psicológicos, sociais ou do sistema de saúde, como a espera para realização de procedimentos. A versão brasileira do INTERMED possui equivalência com o instrumento original; é confiável, uma vez que os itens do instrumento relacionam-se e são complementares entre si; é válida, pois é capaz de medir o objeto ao qual se propõe. Assim, recomenda-se sua incorporação como uma ferramenta de apoio a gestão de leitos e ao cuidado integral do paciente. / The INTERMED method is an instrument that classifies the biopsychosocial complexity of patients under various levels of healthcare. It also qualifies care and improves interprofessional communication. It also allows us to evaluate patient\'s complexity by means of the investigation of four domains: biological, psychological, social and healthcare. Apart from that, it promotes integrated care by focusing on the patient and by enabling clinical management practices and the availability of hospital beds. The main objective of this research was to translate, transculturally adapt and validate the INTERMED method to the Brazilian health system reality. As a secondary objective, INTERMED aimed at evaluating the internal consistency of the method by studying the interface of the INTERMED results along with sociodemographic data and by verifying its contribution to the availability of hospital beds and clinical management. That instrument was applied to a total of 300 inpatients who had been at hospital for more than 5 days. All of them were 21 years old or more and the average age was 57,8 years old, being 58,3% male patients. That sample was collected between September and December 2011 at three hospitals in São Paulo, being one private (A), one university hospital (B) and one public hospital (C). The validation and transcultural adaptation occurred on five stages: translation, synthesis, back-translation, evaluation and validation by a committee of judges and pre-test. The validation of the translation by the committee of judges was carried out by using the Content Validity Index and the internal consistency of the instrument was evaluated by the alpha Crombach coefficient. The structure of the document was studied by using the Spearman correlation coefficient and the predictive validity for length of stay was evaluated by the ratio between the INTERMED total score and the patients\' length of stay. The validation of the translation reached 94,2% of semantic equivalence, 94,3% of language equivalence and 86,6% of cultural equivalence when the original and the translated document were compared. During pre-test phase, more than 50% of comprehension was achieved in all INTERMED items. The average scores achieved by INTERMED were 15, 20 and 21 at institutions A, B and C, respectively. It means that according to the classification of the instrument at the three institutions patients were not considered complex (< 21 points). The internal consistency and the accuracy of the instrument were regarded as good for the three institutions. In general, the correlation among the domains of the instrument were positive and significant. As regards the predictive validity, longer lengths of stay were observed in patients with higher scores. The data found suggest that besides the biological seriousness, the length of stay may be related to psychological or social aspects or even to the health system in which the time patients wait for procedures may be long. The Brazilian version of INTERMED is equivalent to the original; it is reliable, since its items relate to each other and are complementary among themselves; it is valid, on the grounds that it is able to measure the object it is intended to. Having said that, its use is recommendable as a tool to support the patient\'s integrated care management as well as the availability of hospital beds.

Os processos de secagem de resíduos produzidos em estações de tratamento de água e esgoto por processos mecânicos podem gerar lodos com teores de sólidos de 20% a 30%, podendo estes variar de acordo com as características do lodo bem como da tecnologia de desidratação. Uma vez que os custos de transporte e disposição final têm aumentado de forma significativa para lodos produzidos em regiões metropolitanas, torna-se atrativo a sua redução mediante o aumento do teor de sólidos do lodo desidratado. Desta forma, este trabalho teve por objetivo avaliar o processo de pós-secagem de resíduos gerados em estações de tratamento de água (ETA) e esgoto (ETE) por processos naturais, tendo-se avaliado a influência das condições climáticas da cidade de São Paulo para diferentes estações do ano. O estudo foi realizado com dois tipos de leitos de secagem em escala piloto; leito coberto (LC) e leito aberto (LA), tendo os mesmos 1,80m2 de área e piso impermeabilizado. Os dados hidrometeorológicos foram obtidos mediante a operação de uma estação hidrometeorológica portátil que forneceu dados de temperatura do ar e do lodo, umidade relativa do ar, radiação solar global, velocidade do vento e precipitação. O lodo gerado nas estações de tratamento foram dispostos nos leitos de secagem em leiras com 30cm de altura, sendo revolvidos e realizadas análises de teor de sólidos do lodo três vezes por semana, o período de secagem de cada ciclo foi de 30 dias. Os teores de sólidos dos lodos obtidos nos ensaios com pós-secagem natural apresentaram resultados distintos para diferentes períodos do ano; durante o período do verão foi obtido lodo com teor de sólido final de 58% médio, enquanto, no período de inverno foi obtido lodo com teor de sólido final de 18% médio. Foi utilizado um modelo matemático para o processo de secagem do lodo utilizando os dados meteorológicos medidos, uma equação do balanço de calor foi aplicada para o volume de controle do leito de secagem do lodo considerando a transferência de calor por radiação, convecção, e evaporação. / The mechanical drying process of residuals produced in water and wastewater treatment plants can generate sludge with solids content of 20% to 30%. These values may vary according to the characteristics of the sludge and dehydration technology. The costs of sludge produced in metropolitan areas have increased significantly due to transportation and final disposal. Hence, it is to, becoming attractive to reduce the residue volume by increasing the solids content of the dewatered sludge. This study aimed to evaluate the process of post drying of residues generated in water wastewater treatment plants (WTP and WWTP) by natural processes, evaluating the influence seasonal variation of the weather in the São Paulo city. The study was conducted with two drying beds on a pilot scale; one being a cover unit (CU) and the other an uncover unit (UU). Both units have the same area of 1.80m2 and waterproof floor. The hydrometeorological data were obtained through the operation of a weather station installed close to the units that supplied data for temperature of the air and sludge, relative humidity, solar radiation, wind speed and precipitation. The sludge source in the treatment stations are arranged in the drying beds to ridges with 30cm height, the sludge was mixed and analyzed of solid content three times a week, the drying time of each cycle was 30 days. The solid content of the sludge obtained in tests with post drying by natural processes showed different results for different seasonal of the year and during the summer period was obtained sludge with solid content finale average of 58%, while in the winter was obtained sludge with solid content finale average of 18%. A mathematical model is developed for the process of drying of sludge, a heat-balance equation is applied for a control volume of sludge that takes into account the heat transfer by radiation, convection, and evaporation.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-23T14:04:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Juliana Guasti Lozer.pdf: 2488293 bytes, checksum: 5d24459e7b394d66c464ee05fa1f6f8a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-08-31 / O lodo de esgoto é o resíduo produzido em maior volume nas Estações de Tratamento de Esgoto e, após ser submetido a algum processo de higienização pode ser utilizado como biossólido na agricultura. Neste contexto, o presente trabalho apresenta como principal objetivo o estudo do desempenho de estufas agrícolas sobre leito de secagem no desaguamento e na higienização do lodo de descarte de uma estação de tratamento de esgoto operada por reatores anaeróbios de fluxo ascendente e manta de lodo associado a um biofiltro aerado submerso, fundamentado na exposição prolongada do lodo à radiação solar em leitos de secagem. A pesquisa foi realizada em escala real na Estação de Tratamento de Esgoto de Castelo, em três repetições consecutivas, com duração de 28 dias cada. Em cada repetição foram utilizados quatro leitos de secagem, destes, dois foram cobertos com módulos de estufa agrícola e os outros ficaram expostos às alterações climáticas. As cargas de sólidos totais aplicadas nos leitos de secagem variaram de 6,4 kgSST.m-2 a 17,8 kgSST.m-2 durante as três repetições do experimento, sendo objeto de comparação dos resultados. Em relação à remoção do teor de umidade da massa de lodo, o leito coberto 1, que apresentava menores taxas de sólidos totais aplicadas, foi o que obteve melhores resultados, alcançando teores de umidade de até 6,8%. Para os parâmetros microbiológicos, ao final dos 28 dias do experimento foi constatado que: apenas o leito coberto 2 na repetição 2 apresentou resultados de coliformes termotolerantes abaixo de 103 NMP/gST. Apenas na repetição 3 obteve-se ausência de Salmonella em todos os quatro leitos de secagem e, por fim, as reduções nas concentrações de ovos viáveis de helmintos não foram suficientes para enquadrar o biossólido como Classe A conforme estabelecido pela Resolução n° 375/2006 do Conama / The sewage sludge is the main waste, in volume, in Sewage Treatment Plants and, after undergoing hygienization processes, it can be used as biosolid in the agriculture. In this scenario, the objective of this research is to study greenhouses performance on dewatering and sanitation of discarded sludge, based on long exposition to sunlight on dewatering beds, in a Sewage Treatment Plant applying Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket Reactor associated with submerged aired biofilter. This research was carried on large scale at the Sewage Treatment Plant of Castelo using three consecutive repetitions lasting 28 days each. For all the runs it was used four dewatering beds, two covered by greenhouse modules and two exposed to weather conditions. The total solids rate applied on the dewatering beds ranged from 6,4 kgSST.m-2 to 17,8 kgSST.m-2, being used as comparing parameter for the outcomes. For the sludge water content removal, the covered bed 1, which had lesser total solid rates, showed the best results, reaching total solid rates of up to 6,4%. For microbiologic parameters, it was observed by the end of the 28 days: only the covered bed 2, during the second repetition, showed results of fecal coliform below 10³ NMP/gST; only for repetition 3 was not observed Salmonella in all four beds; and viable helminths eggs reduction was not enough for characterizing biosolid as Class A, according established by 375/2006 Resolution of Conama

The aim of this study was to develop and examine the use of backscatter data collected with multibeam sonar (MBS) systems for benthic habitat mapping. Backscatter data were collected from six sites around the Australian coastal zone using the Reson SeaBat 8125 MBS system operating at 455 kHz. Benthic habitats surveyed in this study included: seagrass meadows, rhodolith beds, coral reef, rock, gravel, sand, muddy sand, and mixtures of those habitats. Methods for processing MBS backscatter data were developed for the Coastal Water Habitat Mapping (CWHM) project by a team from the Centre for Marine Science and Technology (CMST). The CMST algorithm calculates the seafloor backscatter strength derived from the peak and integral (or average) intensity of backscattered signals for each beam. The seafloor backscatter strength estimated from the mean value of the integral backscatter intensity was shown in this study to provide an accurate measurement of the actual backscatter strength of the seafloor and its angular dependence. However, the seafloor backscatter strength derived from the peak intensity was found to be overestimated when the sonar insonification area is significantly smaller than the footprint of receive beams, which occurs primarily at oblique angles. The angular dependence of the mean backscatter strength showed distinct differences between hard rough substrates (such as rock and coral reef), seagrass, coarse sediments and fine sediments. The highest backscatter strength was observed not only for the hard and rough substrate, but also for marine vegetation, such as rhodolith and seagrass. The main difference in acoustic backscatter from the different habitats was the mean level, or angle-average backscatter strength. However, additional information can also be obtained from the slope of the angular dependence of backscatter strength. / It was shown that the distribution of the backscatter. The shape parameter was shown to relate to the ratio of the insonification area (which can be interpreted as an elementary scattering cell) to the footprint size rather than to the angular dependence of backscatter strength. When this ratio is less than 5, the gamma shape parameter is very similar for different habitats and is nearly linearly proportional to the ratio. Above a ratio of 5, the gamma shape parameter is not significantly dependent on the ratio and there is a noticeable difference in this parameter between different seafloor types. A new approach to producing images of backscatter properties, introduced and referred to as the angle cube method, was developed. The angle cube method uses spatial interpolation to construct a three-dimensional array of backscatter data that is a function of X-Y coordinates and the incidence angle. This allows the spatial visualisation of backscatter properties to be free from artefacts of the angular dependence and provides satisfactory estimates of the backscatter characteristics. / Using the angle-average backscatter strength and slope of the angular dependence, derived by the angle cube method, in addition to seafloor terrain parameters, habitat probability and classification maps were produced to show distributions of sand, marine vegetation (e.g. seagrass and rhodolith) and hard substrate (e.g. coral and bedrock) for five different survey areas. Ultimately, this study demonstrated that the combination of high-resolution bathymetry and backscatter strength data, as collected by MBS, is an efficient and cost-effective tool for benthic habitat mapping in costal zones.

Important global hydrodynamic relationships for shallow spouted beds of high-density particles were characterized in terms of three features: minimum spouting velocity, overall bed pressure drop at minimum spouting velocity; and fountain height. Spouted bed literature is sparse for shallow beds (static particle depth to bed diameter ≤ 1) and beds with heavy particles (density > 3000 kg/m3). Correlations for such beds were developed here by varying column diameter, static bed height, particle diameter, particle density, gas density and gas flow in an ambient temperature and pressure bed. The degree of correlation between each of the observed hydrodynamic features and a set of selected dimensionless groups from the literature was evaluated with principal components analysis. The minimum spouting velocity correlated strongly with the ratios of particle to bed diameter, of particle to gas density, and of static bed height to particle diameter, and weakly with Archimedes number. Overall bed pressure drop at minimum spouting correlated strongly with Archimedes number, the ratio of static bed height to particle diameter and Froude number. Fountain height correlated strongly with the ratios of the superficial gas velocity to minimum spouting velocity, of static bed height to particle diameter and of the particle to the bed diameter. Principal component regression models were developed for minimum spouting velocity, bed pressure drop, and fountain height with respect to a selected set of dimensionless parameters. All models have regression coefficient values exceeding 85%. Predictions using models developed in this study were compared with correlations in the literature and found to give better results for the experimental conditions studied. Most likely the literature models were less accurate because they were extrapolated. Distinct bed pressure drop relationships with gas flow were observed for certain ranges of particle diameter and static bed height. In addition three dynamical spouting modes were observed, and named as regular, erratic and bimodal. A spouting regime map is proposed based on the spouting regimes defined in this investigation. The correspondence between bed pressure drop relationships and spouting regimes is still unclear.

In this work, flow through synthetic arrangements of contacting spheres is studied as a model problem for porous media and packed bed type flows. Direct numerical simulations are performed for moderate pore Reynolds numbers in the range, 10 ≤ Re ≤ 600, where non-linear porescale flow features are known to contribute significantly to macroscale properties of engineering interest. To first choose and validate appropriate computational models for this problem, the relative performance of two numerical approaches involving body conforming and non-conforming grids for simulating porescale flows is examined. In the first approach, an unstructured solver is used with tetrahedral meshes, which conform to the boundaries of the porespace. In the second approach, a fictitious domain formulation (Apte et al., 2009. J Comput. Phys. 228 (8), 2712-2738) is used, which employs non-body conforming Cartesian grids and enforces the no-slip conditions on the pore boundaries implicitly through a rigidity constraint force. Detailed grid convergence studies of both steady and unsteady flow through prototypical arrangements of spheres indicate that for a fixed level of uncertainty, significantly lower grid densities may be used with the fictitious domain approach, which also does not require complex grid generation techniques. Next, flows through both random and structured arrangements of spheres are simulated at pore Reynolds numbers in the steady inertial ( 10 ≲ Re ≲ 200) and unsteady inertial (Re ≈ 600) regimes, and used to analyze the characteristics of porescale vortical structures. Even at similar Reynolds numbers, the vortical structures observed in structured and random packings are remarkably different. The interior of the structured packings are dominated by multi-lobed vortex rings structures that align with the principal axes of the packing, but perpendicular to the mean flow. The random packing is dominated by helical vortices, elongated parallel to the mean flow direction. The unsteady dynamics observed in random and structured arrangements are also distinct, and are linked to the behavior of the porescale vortices. Finally, to investigate the existence and behavior of transport barriers in packed beds, a numerical tool is developed to compute high resolution finite-time Lyapunov exponent (FTLE) fields on-the-fly during DNS of unsteady flows. Ridges in this field are known to correspond to Lagrangian Coherent Structures (LCS), which are invariant barriers to transport and form the skeleton of time dependent Lagrangian fluid motion. The algorithm and its implementation into a parallel DNS solver are described in detail and used to explore several flows, including unsteady inertial flow in a random sphere packing. The resulting FTLE fields unambiguously define the boundaries of dynamically distinct porescale features such as counter rotating helical vortices and jets, and capture time dependent phenomena including vortex shedding at the pore level. / Graduation date: 2013

This study addressed the numerical modelling of flow and diffusion in packed beds of mono-sized spheres. Comprehensive research was conducted in order to implement various numerical approaches in explicit1 and implicit2 simulations of flow through packed beds of uniform spheres. It was noted from literature that the characterization of a packed bed using porosity as the only geometrical parameter is inadequate (Van Antwerpen, 2009) and is still under much deliberation due to the lack of understanding of different flow phenomena through packed beds. Explicit simulations are not only able to give insight into this lack of understanding in fluid mechanics, but can also be used to develop different flow correlations that can be implemented in implicit type simulations. The investigation into the modelling approach using STAR-CCM+®, presented a sound modelling methodology, capable of producing accurate numerical results. A new contact treatment was developed in this study that is able to model all the aspects of the contact geometry without compromising the computational resources. This study also showed, for the first time, that the LES (large eddy simulation) turbulence model was the only model capable of accurately predicting the pressure drop for low Reynolds numbers in the transition regime. The adopted modelling approach was partly validated in an extensive mesh independency test that showed an excellent agreement between the simulation and the KTA (1981) and Eisfeld and Schnitzlein (2001) correlations' predicted pressure drop values, deviating by between 0.54% and 3.45% respectively. This study also showed that explicit simulations are able to accurately model enhanced diffusion due to turbulent mixing, through packed beds. In the tortuosity study it was found that the tortuosity calculations were independent of the Reynolds number, and that the newly developed tortuosity tests were in good agreement with techniques used by Kim en Chen (2006), deviating by between 2.65% and 0.64%. The results from the TMD (thermal mixing degree) tests showed that there appears to be no explicit link between the porosity and mixing abilities of the packed beds tested, but this could be attributed to relatively small bed sizes used and the positioning and size of the warm inlet. A multi-velocity test showed that the TMD criterion is also independent of the Reynolds number. It was concluded that the results from the TMD tests indicated that more elaborate packed beds were needed to derive applicable conclusions from these type of mixing tests. The explicit BETS (braiding effect test section) simulation results confirmed the seemingly irregular temperature trends that were observed in the experimental data, deviating by between 5.44% and 2.29%. From the detail computational fluid dynamics (CFD) results it was possible to attribute these irregularities to the positioning of the thermocouples in high temperature gradient areas. The validation results obtained in the effective thermal conductivity study were in good agreement with the results of Kgame (2011) when the same fitting techniques were used, deviating by 5.1%. The results also showed that this fitting technique is highly sensitive for values of the square of the Pearson product moment correlation coefficient (RSQ) parameter and that the exclusion of the symmetry planes improved the RSQ results. It was concluded that the introduction of the new combined coefficient (CC) parameter is more suited for this type of fitting technique than using only the RSQ parameter. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Mechanical Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012