Complementarity of CFD, experimentation and reactor models for solving challenging fluidization problems

Experimentalists, numerical modellers and reactor modellers need to work together, not only just for validation of numerical codes, but also to shed fundamental light on each other's problems and underlying assumptions. Several examples are given. Experimental gas axial dispersion data provide a means of choosing the most appropriate boundary condition (no slip, partial slip or full slip) for particles at the wall of fluidized beds. CFD simulations help to identify how close “two-dimensional” experimental columns are to being truly two-dimensional and to representing three-dimensional columns. CFD also can be used to provide a more rational means of establishing assumptions needed in the modelling of two-phase fluidized bed reactors, for example how to deal with cases where there is a change in molar flow (and hence volumetric flow) as a result of chemical reactions.