Computational fluid dynamics and experimental study of the hydrodynamics of a gas–solid tapered fluidized bed

In the present work, experimental and numerical studies for the hydrodynamics in a gas–solid tapered fluidized bed have been carried out. The experimental results obtained by carrying out experiments in a tapered fluidized bed for glass bead (spherical) of 2.0 mm and dolomite (non-spherical particles) of 2.215 mm in diameter, were compared with the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation results, using a commercial CFD software package, Fluent. The gas–solid flow was simulated using the Eulerian–Eulerian model and applying the kinetic theory of granular flow for solid particles. The Gidaspow drag model was used to calculate the gas–solid momentum exchange coefficients. Pressure drops predicted by the CFD simulations agreed reasonably well with experimental measurements for both types (spherical and non-spherical) of particles. Good agreement was also obtained between experimental and CFD predicted bed expansion ratios for both types of particles. Present study provides a useful basis for further works on the CFD of tapered fluidized bed.