Detailed sensitivity numerical studies have shown that the mesh cell-size may have a drastic effect on the modelling of circulating fluidized bed with small particles. Typically, the cell-size must be of the order of few particle diameters to predict accurately the dynamical behaviour of a fluidized bed. Hence, the Euler-Euler numerical simulations of industrial processes are generally performed with grids too coarse to allow the prediction of the local segregation effects. Appropriate modelling, which takes into account the influence of unresolved structures, have been already proposed for monodisperse simulations. In this work, the influence of unresolved structures on a binary mixture of particles is investigated and models are proposed to account for those effect on bidisperse simulations of bidisperse gas-solid fluidized bed. To achieve this goal, Euler-Euler reference simulations are performed with grid refinement up to reach a mesh independent solution. Such kind of numerical simulation is very expensive and is restricted to very simple configurations. In this work, the configuration consists of a 3D periodical circulating fluidized bed, that could represent the established zone of an industrial circulating fluidized bed. In parallel, a filtered approach is developed where the unknown terms, called sub-grid contributions, appear. They correspond to the difference between filtered terms, which are calculated with the reference results then filtered, and resolved contributions, calculated with the filtered fields. Then spatial filters can be applied to reference simulation results to measure each sub-grid contribution appearing in the theoretical filtered approach. A budget analysis is carried out to understand and model the sub-grid term. The analysis of the filtered momentum equation shows that the resolved fluid-particle drag and inter-particle collision are overestimating the momentum transfer effects. The analysis of the budget of the filtered random kinetic energy shows that the resolved production by the mean shear and by the mean particle relative motion are underestimating the filtered ones. Functional models are proposed for the subgrid contributions of the drag and the inter-particle collision.

Numerical modeling and prediction techniques are used to determine pressure drop, minimum fluidization velocity and segregation for bubbling fluidized beds. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code Multiphase Flow with Interphase eXchange (MFIX) is used to study a two-stage reactor geometry with a binary mixture. MFIX is demonstrated to accurately predict pressure drop versus inlet gas velocity for binary mixtures. A new method is developed to predict the pressure drop versus inlet gas velocity and minimum fluidization velocity for multi-component fluidized beds. The mass accounting in the stationary system (MASS) method accounts for the changing bed composition during the fluidization process by using a novel definition for the mass fractions of the bed not yet fluidized. Published experimental data for pressure drop from single-, binary- and ternary-component fluidized bed systems are compared to MFIX simulations and the MASS method, with good agreement between all three approaches. Minimum fluidization velocities predicted using correlations in the literature were compared with the experimental data, MFIX, and the MASS method. The predicted minimum fluidization velocity from the MASS method provided very good results with an average relative error of ±4%. The MASS method is shown to accurately predict when complex multi-component systems of granular material will fluidize. The MASS method and MFIX are also used to explore the occurrence and extent of segregation in multi-component systems. The MASS method and MFIX are both shown to accurately predict the occurrence and extent of segregation in multi-component systems. / Master of Science

Fluidized beds have been applied in many industrial processes (e.g. coal combustion, gasification and granulation) as an effective means for providing excellent gas and solids contact and mixing, as well as good heat transfer. Although research on the fluidized bed has been carried out for more than 70 years, uncertainties and difficulties still remain. These challenges exist primarily due to the complex and dynamic flow structure within fluidized beds and the lack of reliable measurement techniques. The positron emission particle tracking (PEPT) technique, developed at the University of Birmingham, enables individual particles to be tracked non-invasively in opaque three-dimensional (3-D) fluidized beds and offers favourable temporal and spatial resolutions. PEPT is considered to be a powerful tool for fluidized bed studies and was utilized in the current study to investigate the dynamic behaviour of solid and gas in fluidized beds. The experiments in this study were conducted in a 150-mm inner diameter (I.D.) column and operated in the bubbling fluidization regime at ambient conditions. The effects of various factors on the solid flow structure were examined: solid properties, superficial gas velocity, bed height-to-diameter aspect ratio (H/D) and pore size of the air distributor. The solid flow structure was classified into four patterns, namely patterns A, B, C and D, in which pattern C was newly observed in this thesis. The solid motion, bubble behaviour (i.e., bubble spatial distribution, bubble size and bubble rise velocity) and solid mixing were assessed for each flow pattern to understand their unique fluidization behaviours. This assessment was achieved by the development of three methods: a method to reconstruct bubble behaviours based on solid motion, and two methods for estimating the solid mixing profile in this thesis. The results were discussed and compared with the published literature. The bubble rise velocity and bubble size calculated in this research from the PEPT-measured data was in agreement with other research, particularly that of Kunii and Levenspiel, Yasui and Johanson, and Mori and Wen. Finally, a parameter was developed to predict and control flow patterns based on particle kinetic energy and various factors. The outcomes of this study advance the understanding of the complicated dynamics of bubbling fluidized beds and may benefit several industries in the enhancement of fluidized bed design and control to achieve desirable qualities and efficiencies.

Abstract embargoed until 2030-11-11

The ozone decomposition reaction was performed in a 2.5cmx40cmx450cm two dimensional (2D) catalytic fluidized bed reactor. Commercial FCC catalyst impregnated with Fe2O3 was used at superficial gas velocities ranging between 0.006 m/s and 0.55 m/s. The onset velocity of the turbulent regime (uc) was determined as 0.4 m/s. The catalyst activity was optimized so that the effect of inter-phase mass transfer could be accentuated in the conversion reading. It was found that the general bubbling-turbulent model of Thompson et. al. (1999) combined with the mass transfer correlations of Kunii and Levenspiel (1991), Foka et. al. (1996) and Miyauchi et. al. (1980)gave reasonable predictions of the experimental data. The gradual improvement of reactor performance with an increase in superficial velocity (as predicted by the Thompson et. al. model) was not observed; instead a discontinuity of the reactor performance was noted in the vicinity of uc. More experimental work is required to substantiate this observation. Copyright / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Chemical Engineering / unrestricted

No description available.

Des études numériques ont montré que la taille de la cellule de maillage peut avoir un effet drastique sur la modélisation du lit fluidisé circulant avec des petites particules. En effet, la taille de la cellule doit être de l’ordre de quelques diamètres de particules pour prédire avec précision le comportement dynamique d’un lit fluidisé. En conséquence, les simulations numériques d’ Euler-Euler des processus industriels sont généralement effectuées avec des grilles trop grossières pour permettre la prédiction des effets de ségrégation locale. La modélisation appropriée, qui prend en compte l’influence des structures non résolues, a déjà été proposée pour les simulations monodispersés. Dans ce travail, l’influence des structures non résolues sur un mélange binaire de particules est analysée et on propose des modèles pour tenir compte de cet effet dans des simulations de lit fluidisé polydispersés. Pour atteindre cet objectif, des simulations Euler-Euler de références sont réalisées avec un raffinement du maillage aboutissant à une solution indépendante de la taille de la cellule. Ce type de simulation numérique est très coûteux et se limite à des configurations très simples. Dans ce travail, la configuration se consiste en un lit circulant périodique 3D, qui représente la région établie d'un lit circulant. Parallèlement, une approche filtrée est développée où les termes inconnus, appelés contributions de sous-maille, doivent être modélisés. Les filtres spatiaux peuvent être appliqués aux résultats de simulation de référence afin de mesurer chaque contribution de sous-maille apparaissant dans l’approche théorique filtrée. Une analyse est réalisée afin de comprendre et de modéliser l’effet de la contribution des termes de sous-maille. L’opération de filtrage fait apparaître de nouveaux termes, les termes de sous-maille. Un terme filtré est la somme d’un terme résolu, obtenus à partir des champs filtrés, et d’ un terme de sous-maille. L’analyse de l’équation filtrée de quantité de mouvement montre que les contributions résolues de la traînée des particules fluides et la collision entre particules surestiment les effets de transferts de quantité de mouvement filtrés. L’analyse de l’équation filtrée de l’énergie cinétique des particules montre que la production résolue par le cisaillement moyen et par le mouvement relatif moyen des particules sous-estime contribution filtrée. Des modèles fonctionnels sont proposés pour les contributions de sous-maille de la traînée et des collisions inter-particule. / Detailed sensitivity numerical studies have shown that the mesh cell-size may have a drastic effect on the modelling of circulating fluidized bed with small particles. Typically, the cell-size must be of the order of few particle diameters to predict accurately the dynamical behaviour of a fluidized bed. Hence, the Euler-Euler numerical simulations of industrial processes are generally performed with grids too coarse to allow the prediction of the local segregation effects. Appropriate modelling, which takes into account the influence of unresolved structures, have been already proposed for monodisperse simulations. In this work, the influence of unresolved structures on a binary mixture of particles is investigated and models are proposed to account for those effect on bidisperse simulations of bidisperse gas-solid fluidized bed. To achieve this goal, Euler-Euler reference simulations are performed with grid refinement up to reach a mesh independent solution. Such kind of numerical simulation is very expensive and is restricted to very simple configurations. In this work, the configuration consists of a 3D periodical circulating fluidized bed, that could represent the established zone of an industrial circulating fluidized bed. In parallel, a filtered approach is developed where the unknown terms, called sub-grid contributions, appear. They correspond to the difference between filtered terms, which are calculated with the reference results then filtered, and resolved contributions, calculated with the filtered fields. Then spatial filters can be applied to reference simulation results to measure each sub-grid contribution appearing in the theoretical filtered approach. A budget analysis is carried out to understand and model the sub-grid term. The analysis of the filtered momentum equation shows that the resolved fluid-particle drag and inter-particle collision are overestimating the momentum transfer effects. The analysis of the budget of the filtered random kinetic energy shows that the resolved production by the mean shear and by the mean particle relative motion are underestimating the filtered ones. Functional models are proposed for the subgrid contributions of the drag and the inter-particle collision.

Fluidized beds have widespread industrial applications ranging from chemical industries to power plants. The flow inside a fluidized bed system consists of two main phases, a particle phase and the fluid phase. The two phases are strongly coupled to each other through various forces like drag and pressure. Capturing this multiphase phenomenon requires modeling strategies that possess good fidelity over a range of scales. Discrete Element Modeling (DEM) coupled with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) provides a good platform to analyze the complex coupled multiphase hydrodynamics inside fluidized bed systems. Conventional DEM-CFD framework suffers from contradictory spatial resolution requirements for the particle and fluid phases, respectively. This prevents the conventional DEM-CFD method to be applied to geometries that have features comparable to the particle diameter of the solid phase. The novelty of this work lies in the development and validation of a two-grid formulation that removes the resolution restrictions of the conventional DEM-CFD framework. The results obtained from this new framework agree reasonably well with the experiments showing the capability of the new scheme to simulate conditions not possible with conventional DEM-CFD framework. In addition, this research also focuses on performing both 2D and 3D jetting fluidized bed simulations having millions of particles; validate/compare results with experiments and to perform heat transfer studies in a jetting fluidized bed system. The results suggest convective and diffusive mixing for a single jet at higher superficial velocity to be better than the mixing obtained in a multiple jet framework. The comparison with experimental results obtained in a multiple jetting setup shows that a 2D simulation captures the essential jet characteristics near the distributor plate reasonably well while a 3D simulation is needed to capture proper bubble dynamics near the freeboard of the bed. These results give insight into the detailed dynamics of fluidized bed systems and provide a foundation for a better design of these systems. / Ph. D.

Une étude précise des écoulements gaz-particules poly-solides et réactifs rencontrés dans les lits fluidisés circulants (LFC) appliqués au procédé de Chemical Looping Combustion (CLC) est indispensable pour prédire un point de fonctionnement stable et comprendre l'influence de la réaction et de la polydispersion sur l'hydrodynamique des LFC. Dans ce but, des simulations avec le code NEPTUNE_CFD ont été confrontées aux expériences menées à l'Université Technologique de Compiègne par ALSTOM. Cette modélisation a été validée sur des LFC non réactifs mono-solides et poly-solides. L'influence des caractéristiques des particules et de la position des injecteurs sur l'entrainement de solide est étudiée. Un modèle de prise en compte de la production locale de gaz au cours de la réaction est présenté. L'étude locale de l'écoulement a permis de comprendre l'influence des collisions interparticulaire et de la production locale de gaz sur l'écoulement. Finalement, un point de fonctionnement a été proposé pour le pilote CLC en construction à Darmstadt. Ce travail a montré que NEPTUNE_CFD pouvait prédire l'hydrodynamique de LFC poly-solides à l'échelle du pilote industriel et participer au dimensionnement de centrales de types CLC. / This work deals with the development, validation and application of a model of Chemical Looping Combustion (CLC) in a circulating fluidized bed system. Chapter 1 is an introduction on Chemical Looping Combustion. It rst presents the most important utilizations of coal in the energy industry. Then, it shows that because of the CO2 capture policy, new technologies have been developed in the frame of post-combustion, pre-combustion and oxy-combustion. Then, the Chemical Looping Combustion technology is presented. It introduces multiple challenges: the choice of the Metal Oxide or the denition of the operating point for the fuel reactor. Finally, it shows that there are two specicities for CFD modeling: the influence of the collisions between particles of different species and the local production of gas in the reactor due to the gasication of coal particles. Chapter 2 outlines the CFD modeling approach: the Eulerian-Eulerian approach extended to flows involving different types of particles and coupled with the chemical reactions. Chapter 3 consists in the validation of the CFD model on mono-solid (monodisperse and poly-disperse) and poly-solid flows with the experimental results coming from an ALSTOM pilot plant based at the Universite Tchnologique de Compiegne (France). The relevance of modeling the polydispersity of a solid phase is shown and the influence of small particles in a CFB of large particles is characterized. This chapter shows that the pilot plant hydrodynamics can be predicted by an Eulerian-Eulerian approach. Chapter 4 consists in the validation of the CFD model on an extreme bi-solid CFB of particles of same density but whith a large particle diameter ratio. Moreover, the terminal settling velocity of the largest particles are twice bigger than the fluidization velocity: the hydrodynamics of the large particles are given by the hydrodynamics of the smallest. An experiment performed by Fabre (1995) showed that large particles can circulate through the bed in those operating conditions. Our simulations predicted a circulation of large particles, but underestimated it. It is shown that it can be due to mesh size eect. Finally, a simulation in a periodic box of this case was dened and allowed us to show the major influence of collisions between species. Chapter 5 presents the simulation of a hot reactive CLC pilot plant under construction in Darmstadt (Germany). The simulations account for the chemical reactions and describe its eect on the hydrodynamics. Different geometries and operating conditions are tested.

Cette thèse porte sur l’étude numérique de la dynamique des écoulements fluide-particules au sein des lits fluidisés denses. Le but de ces travaux est d’améliorer la compréhension des phénomènes qui s’y déroulent afin d’optimiser les performances des procédés industriels confrontés à ces écoulements diphasiques. En effet, la diversité des échelles de longueur et les différents types d’interaction fluide-solide et solide-solide rencontrées dans ce type de configuration rendent cette catégorie d’écoulement particulièrement complexe et intéressante à étudier. Le modèle développé à cet effet permet de suivre individuellement la trajectoire des particules et de traiter les collisions avec leurs voisines tandis que la phase fluide est décrite de façon localement moyennée. Dans ce mémoire, nous présentons tout d’abord les origines physiques du phénomène de fluidisation d’une population de particules et les grandeurs physiques qui le caractérisent. Puis nous détaillons le modèle Euler-Lagrange implémenté et présentons une série de tests de validation basés sur des résultats théoriques et des comparaisons à des résultats expérimentaux. Cet outil numérique est ensuite employé pour simuler et étudier des lits fluidisés comportant jusqu’à plusieurs dizaines de millions de particules. Enfin, nous comparons des simulations réalisées conjointement à l’échelle micro et avec le modèle développé au cours de cette thèse à l’échelle méso. / This thesis deals with numerical analysis of particulate flows within dense fluidized beds. The aim of this work is to improve phenomena understanding in such flows in order to optimize engineering processes design. Wide variety of length scales and various fluid-solid and solid-solid interactions makes complex and challenging this type of flows study. The present developed model permits individual particle tracking and handle particles collisions whereas fluid flow is space averaged. In this manuscript, we first present origins of fluidization phenomenon and describe the macroscopic quantities which characterize it. Then we introduce the Euler-Lagrange model we developed and detail its numerical implementation. Moreover, we present a bench of validation tests based both on theoretical results and experimental data comparison. This numerical tool is then used to simulate and study fluidized beds containing up to several tenth of millions particles. Finally, we compare simulations performed both at micro and meso scales, i.e. with the model developed during this thesis.