CFD Analysis to Pressure Drop in Fixed Bed

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Abstract

CFD method was used to study the pressure drop in the fixed bed packed with the particles of same and different diameter. PFC3D software was used for modeling of the fixed bed, and Fluent software was used to simulate the pressure field. The working range of the particle Reynolds numbers (Re_p) was from 1 to 2 200. Simulated results of the void fraction and pressure drop were compared with calculated results by the semi-empirical equation in published literature, which indicated that at low Re_p (Re_p<120), a good agreement was achieved between simulated and calculated results of the pressure drop. While at high Re_p, the difference between them was significant. Large particles made the peaks of void fraction profile moved toward the center of the fixed bed, and the distance from the first peak to the bed wall was almost same as the value of mass mean diameter (d₄₃). When the semi-empirical equation used d₄₃ instead of the original parameter, the corresponding calculated results of the pressure drop agreed better with CFD predicted resulted.

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	Articles by authors
	Wang Chunlei
	Wang Rijie
	Yang Xiaoxia
	Qiao Shengchao

Keywords： pressure drop； fixed bed； CFD； particle diameter； void fraction

Received 2016-01-31;

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Cite this article:

Wang Chunlei, Wang Rijie, Yang Xiaoxia, Qiao Shengchao.CFD Analysis to Pressure Drop in Fixed Bed[J] Chemcial Industry and Engineering, 2017,V34(6): 88-94

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