Simulation model of the gas-liquid flows in the packed bed

Abstract

A mathematical model was presented to describe the countercurrent flows of gas and liquid through packed beds for analyzing flow phenomena in a blast furnace. For the gas flow, the vectorial form of Ergun's equation was used as equation of motion. For the liquid flow in the packed bed, flowing region was obtained by a dispersion-probability model using a flow network system for the dispersed flow. Liquid flow vector in the flowing region was computed from the Darcy's equation that was derived for the continuous liquid flow. A series of experiments was conducted by a two dimensional cold model for measuring the liquid flow region, liquid distribution at the receivers and gas pressure distribution in the packed beds. The experimental data were simulated well by the mathematical model presented in this paper. In addition, the model estimated the dry zone formed in front of gas inlet.