Settling and fluidization of non Brownian hard spheres in a viscous liquid

A mean field approach is used to estimate the energy dissipation during the homogeneous sedimentation or the particulate fluidization of non Brownian hard spheres in a concentrated suspension of infinite extent. Depending on inertial screening and the range of the hydrodynamic interactions, the effective buoyancy force is determined either from the average suspension density in a Stokes flow or from the fluid density in the turbulent flow regime. An energy balance then yields a settling or fluidization law depending on the particle Reynolds number in reasonable agreement with the Richardson and Zaki correlation and recent experimental results for particle settling or fluidization. We further estimate the energy dissipation in the turbulent boundary layers around the particles to precise the Reynolds number dependence of the hindered settling function in the intermediate flow regime. Received 22 February 1999 and Received in final form 14 June 1999