Applied Mathematical Modelling 37 (2013) 18511859

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Applied Mathematical Modelling

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apm

CFD-modeling of effects of draft tubes on operating condition

in spouted beds
S. Moradi a,, A. Yeganeh a, M. Salimi b
a
b

Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Arak University, Arak 38156-8-8349, Iran
Department of Chemical Engineering, Islamic Azad University, Arak Branch, Arak, Iran

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 13 March 2011
Received in revised form 11 March 2012
Accepted 8 April 2012
Available online 8 May 2012
Keywords:
Spouted bed with draft tube
CFD
Simulation

a b s t r a c t
Draft tubes are used to increase performance in spouted beds. Performance of these tubes
depends on its geometry and location. We can by surveying and CFD modeling of bed provide the best condition. In this work a CFD modeling technique is used to optimize draft
tube geometry. First, model accuracy was assessed by comparing the results with experimental results. After it became clear that the model works, it was used to optimize the
designing of spouted bed. The EulerianEulerian multiuid modeling approach was applied
to predict gassolid ow behavior. The results present that optimized selection of draft
tubes lead to uniform distribution of particle velocity and it can increase also particles
circulating.
2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Spouted beds are used as efcient uid-particle contactors in various industrial operations such as the drying of grains
[1], granulation of particles [2], coating [3], heterogeneous catalysis [4], etc.
Draft plates have been used to improve the stability in spouted beds. The insertion of a draft tube in a conventional
spouted bed overcomes the limitations of the spouted bed for improving gassolid contact. There are several advantages
of using a draft tube in a conventional spouted bed: greater exibility in the operation, lower gas ow and pressure drop,
solids of any size or nature may be treated, narrower residence time distribution, better control of solid circulation [5].
Among the disadvantages, the following are worth mentioning: lower heat and mass transfer, complexity of design, risk
of tube blockage, and longer recirculation time. Consequently, solid circulation may be controlled by changing the column
diameter, stagnant bed height, or particle diameter independently [6].
This work provides a computational uid dynamics (CFD) simulation of the effect of tube diameter and its distance above
the air entry slot. The modeling results were compared with the experimental work of Zhao et al. [7] for the spouted bed.

2. Mathematical models
The following assumptions are made in the formulation of present mathematical model.
- The particles are uniform in size and internally homogeneous, and can be approximated as isotropic spheres.
- Temperature gradients within the grains are negligible.
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: s-morady@araku.ac.ir (S. Moradi).
0307-904X/$ - see front matter 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apm.2012.04.016

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S. Moradi et al. / Applied Mathematical Modelling 37 (2013) 18511859

Two main groups of CFD models are generally distinguished, the Eulerian models (continuum models) and the Lagrangian
models (discrete particle models). Both models consider the uid phase as continuum. In the Eulerian model, the dispersed
particulate phase is also considered as continuum, whereas both phases can fully inter- penetrate. Due to the continuum
description in the Eulerian model, supplementary closures for the particleparticle or particlewall interactions are required
[8]. In this work, an Eulerian model was employed to predict the ow behavior of the spouted bed.
2.1. Governing equations
The mass conservation equation for gas phase (q = g) and solid phase (q = s) is
n
X
@
aq qq r  aq qq~
v q m_ pq
@t
p1

Where ~
v q is the velocity of phase q and aq is the phase volume fraction. m_ pq denotes the interphase mass transfer.
The momentum balance equation for phase q is [8]
n
X

@
aq qq~
v q r  aq qq~
v q~
v q aq rp r  sq ~Rqp m_ pq~
v pq aq qq ~F q ~F lift;q ~F v m;q
@t
p1

In this equation ~
F q is an external body force, ~
F lift;q a lifting force, ~
F v m;q a virtual mass force and ~
v pq is the slip velocity between
_ pq characterizes the mass transfer from the pth phase to the qth phase. ~
the phases. m
Rqp denotes an interacting force between
the phases. This force depends on the friction, pressure, cohesion and other effects.
n
n
X
X
~
Rpq
K pq ~
vp  ~
vq
p1

p1

Where Kpq is the interphase moment exchange coefcient.

To describe the conservation of energy in Eulerian multiphase system, a separate enthalpy equation can be written for
each phase (q = g, s):
n
X

@
@P
aq qq Hq r:asq qq~
v q Hq aq q s : r~
v q Q pq m_ pq Hpq
@t
@t
p1

Here, Hq is the specic enthalpy of the qth phase and Qpq is the intensity of heat exchange between the pth phase and qth
phase; and when q = g, Qpq = Qsg = Qgs.
2.2. Description of exchange coefcients
2.2.1. Gassolid exchange coefcient
According to Wei Du CFD works [9], the Gidaspow model that is a combination of the Wen and Yu model and the Ergun
model, gave the best agreement with experimental observation. Therefore this model used at present work.For very low particle concentrations (ag > 0.8), Kgs is dened as following:

K gs

vs  ~
v g j 2:65
3 as ag qg j~
CD
ag
ds
4

24
1 0:15ag Res 0:687 
ag Res

And CD is

CD

For high particle concentration (ag < 0.8), Kgs is dened as following:

K gs 150

a2s lg
2
ag ds

1:75

as qg
j~
vs  ~
vgj
ds

2.2.2. Solidsolid exchange coefcient

According to Syamal equation the solidsolid moment exchange coefcient has the following form:



2
31 ess p2 Cfr;ss p8 as ag qg qs dg ds 2 g0;ss


Kss
vs  ~
vgj
j~
3
3
2p qg dg qs ds

S. Moradi et al. / Applied Mathematical Modelling 37 (2013) 18511859

1853

Here ess is the restitution coefcient, Cfr,ss is the coefcient of friction between the particles and g0,ss is the radial distribution
function and expressed by:

"

g0 1 

as

13 #1
9

as;max

2.2.3. Kinetic theory of granular ow

This theory is based onto the classical theory of molecular gases and describes the dependency of the rheological material
properties on the local particle concentration and on the particle uctuating velocity. Therefore actual particle velocity is
decomposed in a local mean velocity ~
us and a random uctuating velocity ~
Cs:

~
v s ~us ~C s

10

The granular temperature for an assembly of particles is dened as

1 ~ ~
fC s :C s g
3

11

The conservation equation of the granular temperature is [10]




3 @
as qs hs r:as qs hs~
v s Ps I ss : r~
v s r:khs rhs  chs /gs
2 @t

12

Here Ps I ss : r~
v s is the generation of energy by the solid stress tensor, khs rhs is the diffusion of energy, chs stands for the
collisional dissipation of energy and /gs denotes the energy exchange between the gas and solid phase. The conductivity of
the particle uctuating energy is calculated by the expression of Gidaspow [11]:

kh

r
p 
2
25qs ds hs p
6
hs
1 as g 0 1 ess 2qs a2s ds 1 ess g 0
5
p
64g 0 1 ess

13

The energy dissipation due to particle collision is represented by the expression derived by Lun [12]:

ch

12 1  e2ss g 0
p
qs a2s hs3=2
ds p

14

2.2.4. Turbulence modeling

To describe the effects of turbulent uctuations of velocities and scalar quantities in a single phase, several turbulence
models are provided. In this work the standard k-e model was used, where two supplementary transport equations for
the turbulent kinetic energy k and the dissipation rate of the turbulent kinetic energy (e) are calculated.
2.2.4.1. Turbulence in the continuous phase. The Reynolds stress tensor for the continuous phase is dened as following:

2
3

~q I q l rU
~ q rU
~T
sq  ag kg qg lt;g r:U
g t;g
q

15

The turbulent viscosity is expressed by the turbulent kinetic energy of gas phase:
2

lt;g qg cl

kg

16

eg

Here k is the turbulent energy, e the dissipation rate of the turbulent kinetic and cl is 0.09. Turbulent of the continuous phase
are obtained from the following equations:



l
@
~g kg r: ag t;g rkg ag Gk;g  ag q eg ag q Pk;g
ag qg kg r  ag qg U
g
g
@t
rk
l
@
e
~g eg r  ag t;g reg ag g C 1 Gk;g  C 2 q eg q Pe;g
ag qg eg r  ag qg U
g
g
@t
rk
kg

17
18

Here, Pk,g and Pe,g represent the inuence of the dispersed phase on the continuous phase and are calculate as following:

Pkg

M
X
K sg
p1

ag qg

kgs  2kg ~
v gs :~
v dr

19

And Peg with the expression of Elgobashi and Abou-Arab [13]:

Peg C e

eg
kg

Pkg

In this equation Ce is 1.2.

20

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S. Moradi et al. / Applied Mathematical Modelling 37 (2013) 18511859

Fig. 1. Schematic view of the experiment set-up [7].

2.2.4.2. Turbulence in the dispersed phase. The turbulent quantities for the dispersed phase include:
2

ks kg

b gsg
s gsg

ksg 2kg

b gsg
s gsg

21
!

1
ksg st;sg
3


2
1
Ds Dt;sg
ks  b ksg sF;sg
3
3
!1

Dt;sg

b 1 C v

qs
Cv
qg

22
23
24
25

Here, the added mass coefcient Cv = 0.5

2.3. Boundary conditions
1. At the entrance, the gas is injected only in the axial direction and inlet particle velocity is zero.
2. The velocity gradients for the two phases and the granular temperature gradient along the radial direction are both zero.
3. Along the wall, a no-slip condition is assumed.

3. Numerical simulations
The set of governing equations were solved by means of a nite volume technique. Since the apparatus depth was chosen
that small (15 mm) that there are hardly any differences in the ow structure in the third dimension, a two-dimensional
simulation was performed. The domain was discretized into 3810 control cells. The constant time step of 0.001 s was used
in these computations. The models were solved by using a computer with pentium 2.14 GHz CPU 2 GB RAM.
Scalar variable such as volume fraction, density, granular temperature and pressure were applied at the cell-center. The
rst-order-upwind-method was used for interpolating the cell-center values to the cell boundaries. The pressurevelocity

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S. Moradi et al. / Applied Mathematical Modelling 37 (2013) 18511859

Table 1
Parameters used for the simulation of Zhao et al. experiments.
Symbol

Description

Experiment

Computer run

qs
qg

Particle density
Gas density
Particle diameter
Maximum solid volume fraction
Gas supercial velocity
Width of two plates
Entrainment height
Static bed depth

2380 kg/m3
Not reported
2 mm
Not reported
1.35 m/s
6,7.5,9,12 mm
10,20,30 mm
100 mm

Same
1.2 kg/m3
Same
0.593
Same
Same
Same
Same

es,max
usu
Dw
He
H0

coupling was realized by the SIMPLE-algorithm. The Gidaspow drag model was selected to describe the interfacial forces between gas and particles.
In the present work, the experimental results obtained by Zhao et al. [7] for a spouted bed with the geometry shown in
Fig. 1 are adopted to validate the model predictions for hydrodynamics. They measured particle velocity distribution by
means of a particle image velocimetry (PIV) in the spouted bed with draft plates. Detail description of the experiments
can be found in Zhao et al. work. Table 1 presents the parameters used in the simulations.
4. Results and discussion
4.1. Hydrodynamics of Spouted bed
An entire geometry model of the spouted bed apparatus was created and meshed. In Fig. 2, the mesh of the entire apparatus is depicted. Fig. 3 shows the distribution of solid phase in the column at t = 10 s.

Fig. 2. Computational grid of the spouted bed apparatus.

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S. Moradi et al. / Applied Mathematical Modelling 37 (2013) 18511859

Fig. 3. The distribution of solid phase in the column at t = 10 s.

Fig. 4. Comparison between the measurement and the simulations proles of the particle vertical velocities.

Fig. 4 shows the comparison between the measurement and the simulations proles of the particle vertical velocities. The
simulation result provides a good prediction of the longitudinal prole of the particle vertical velocity along the bed centerline. Especially, the initial particle acceleration at the lower part of the spout is almost coming together between PIV and
simulation results, which can be attributed to the applying of turbulence model for the jet description near the inlet nozzle.
Fig. 5 shows the comparison between the simulated and experimental proles of the particle vertical velocities within
two plates. The radial proles by both the simulations and PIV measurements indicate that the particle vertical velocities
adjacent to the draft plates are lower than the local average value. The particle vertical velocity increases as the height z increases from 30.4 to 91.2 mm. The difference between simulations and experiments near the draft plates may result from an
overestimation of the wall friction.

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Fig. 5. Comparison between the simulated and measured axial velocity of particles at three different heights in the spout.

4.2. Effect of diameter of draft tube on the spouted bed hydrodynamics

After that the model accuracy was assessed by comparing the results with experimental results, it will use to optimize the
designing of spouted bed. In design of the draft tube usually the top of the draft tube locate at the same level that the upper
bed surface. Four different diameters have been chosen to investigate the inuence of the diameter of draft tube on the
spouted bed hydrodynamics. Fig. 6 shows the predicted proles of particles velocities at same height of bed (H = 8 cm)
for spouted bed with diameter of 6, 7.5, 9 and 12 mm. It was found that in conditions considered, tube with a diameter
of 9 mm led to maximum speed compared with other pipes.
4.3. Effect of entrainment height on the spouted bed hydrodynamics
Entrainment height adjusts the circulation of particles in space of tube and spout. Zhao et al. selected 13 cm for entrainment height. Fig. 7 shows the simulation and Fig. 8 presents the experimental longitudinal proles of particle vertical veloc-

Fig. 6. The predicted proles of particles velocities at height of 8 cm for spouted bed with diameter of 6, 7.5, 9, 12 mm.

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Fig. 7. Simulated longitudinal proles of particle vertical velocities along the bed centerline.

Fig. 8. Experimental longitudinal proles of particle vertical velocities along the bed centerline.

Fig. 9. Flow elds of particles in 2DSB with plates at (a) He = 100 mm, (b) He = 300 mm.

S. Moradi et al. / Applied Mathematical Modelling 37 (2013) 18511859

1859

ities along the centerline. Figs. 7 and 8 shows that increasing distance from 1 to 2 cm can increase velocity. Consequently,
rate of circulation of particles increase. But increasing distance to 3 cm closes it to unstable condition. This unstable condition quality clear in compare to ow eld of particles in Fig. 9.
5. Conclusions
With survey prole of particle velocities in the spouted bed with draft tube concluded that by increasing diameter of tube
and entrainment height increase rate of circulating of particles. The particles are entrained in the entrainment zone, which
can be considered as a column with a diameter of Dd and length of He. Since the entrainment area is pDd He, increase in Dd or
He have a great inuence on the rate of solid circulation. On the other hand, with increasing of these variables the operating
condition of spouted bed will become unstable. Consequently, correct survey and simulation is important because it helps to
optimize condition before construct.
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