CFD modeling of dilute phase pneumatic conveying in a horizontal pipe using Euler–Euler approach

Abstract

ABSTRACTComputational fluid dynamics simulations were performed to investigate the behavior of dilute phase pneumatic conveying of plastic pellets in a horizontal circular pipe. The pellets are 200 µm in diameter and 1000 kg/m3 in density. A parametric study was performed to investigate the effects of turbulence model and model collision parameters on pressure drop, solid’s volume fraction and velocity profiles. Among model collision parameters, specularity coefficient has considerable effect on the pressure drop. Moreover, the results from simulations carried out for different solid loadings and velocities were compared with experimental data found in the literature. The air velocities range from 6 to 15 m/s and solids to air mass flow ratios range from 1 to 3. At higher air velocities, the pressure drops predicted by the standard k-omega turbulence model are higher than the pressure drops predicted by the standard k-epsilon model. In contrast, at lower gas velocities, the standard k-epsilon model predicts higher pressure drops compared to the standard k-omega turbulence model. However, no significant difference in solids and air velocity profiles is observed for the two different turbulence models.