Pressure fluctuations in turbulent fluidized beds

Abstract

From the statistical analysis of pressure fluctuations, the hydrodynamic properties in a turbulent fluidized bed of glass beads (dp: 0.362mm) have been determined in a 0.1m-IDx3m high Plexiglas column. The statistical properties such as mean amplitude, fluctuation interval, standard deviation, skewness and flatness of pressure fluctuations have been utilized to determine the transition velocity from the bubbling to turbulent flow regimes in a fluidized bed. The obtained transition velocities from these methods were found to have very similar values. In the turbulent flow regime, the mean amplitude, fluctuation interval, standard deviation and flatness of pressure fluctuations decreased with an increase in gas velocity. By contrast, the skewness of pressure fluctuations increased with gas velocity. The data of the present and previous studies on transition velocity from bubbling to turbulent flow regimes in terms of Reynolds number have been correlated with Archimedes number. © 1988, The Society of Chemical Engineers, Japan. All rights reserved.