Three-dimensional transient numerical simulation of the solid volume fraction of a fluidized bed

Abstract

The FLUENT solver employed in the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has been extensively developed to extend its robustness and precision for a wide range of flow regimes. For that, the FLUENT solver has a numerical method in the pressure-based solver that has traditionally been used for incompressible and slightly compressible flows. The algorithm is based on the pressure that solves the equations in a segregated or decoupled mode. This algorithm has proven to be robust and versatile and has been used cooperatively with a wide range of physical models, including multiphase flows and conjugated heat transfer. However, there are applications in which the convergence rate of the segregated algorithm is not satisfactory, generally due to the need in these coupling scenarios between the continuity and momentum equations. The objective of this article is to validate the Eulerian model to determine the volumetric fractions of the solid phase fraction. For this, we used data from the literature and the PCSIMPLE algorithm (solver) at different orders of solution of the continuity, momentum, and turbulence equations. Also, we determined its efficiency in transient systems and how it would affect the results in the hydrodynamics of a three-phase fluidized bed reactor. The results were significant, thus representing the phenomenon of interaction between the liquid-solid and solid-gas phases.