Continuum prediction of entrainment rates and agglomeration of gas-fluidized, lightly-cohesive particles

Abstract

In this work, a continuum theory for cohesive particles developed recently (Kellogg et al., 2017) is applied to lightly-cohesive particles in an unbounded, gas-solid riser. The novelty of this recent theory is its fundamental incorporation of the effects of the granular temperature (i.e., continuum measure of impact velocity) and the material and cohesion properties on the rates of aggregation and breakage of agglomerates. Here, we extend this theory to multiphase systems and place particular emphasis on its ability to predict entrainment rate, as past empirical correlations vary by orders of magnitude when applied to the same system (Chew et al., 2015). Specifically, continuum predictions of entrainment rates and agglomerate fraction are compared with Discrete Element Method (DEM) simulations of lightly-cohesive particles in a gas-solid flow. The agreement obtained for these quantities provides preliminary validation for the use of the continuum theory for cohesive particles in gas-solid flows.