Experimental and Numerical Study of Dilute Gas-Solid Flow inside a 90° Horizontal Square Pipe Bend

Abstract

A pneumatic test rig is built to test a curved 90˚ square bend in an open-circuit horizontal-to-horizontal suction wind tunnel system. Sand particles are used to represent the solid phase with a wide range of particle diameters. Velocity pro- files are constructed by measuring the gas velocity using a 3-hole probe. Flow patterns inside the bend duct are intro- duced using sparks caused by burning sticks of incense with the air flow inside the piping system for flow visualization purpose. Numerical calculations are performed by Lagrangian-particle tracking model for predicting particle trajectories of dispersed phase, and standard k - ε model for predicting the turbulent gas-solid flows in bends. Comparisons made be- tween the theoretical results and experimental data for the velocity vectors and particle trajectories show good agreement.