Output details

Effect of surface energy on the transition from fixed to bubbling gas-fluidised beds

Discrete element analysis (DEM) has been used to model a fluidised bed of particles with full physical representation of the effects of surface energy at contacts. We show that (a) the state of incipient fluidisation does not correspond to full disaggregation of particles, (b) most previous attempts at modelling fluidisation of cohesive particles do not properly account for energy dissipation at contacts and therefore underestimate the effect of surface energy. Fluidisation of fine particles is dominated by surface energy effects, which is industrially important in e.g. high value manufacturing routes.