Direct Numerical Simulation of Particle Heat and Mass Transfer in a Fluidized Bed

Abstract

We have developed a Direct Numerical Simulation combined with the Immersed Boundary method (DNS-IB) to study heat transfer in particulate flows. In this method, fluid velocity and temperature fields are obtained by solving the modified momentum and heat transfer equations, which result from the presence of heated particles in the fluid; particles are tracked individually and their velocities and positions are solved based on the equations of linear and angular motions; particle temperature is assumed to be a constant. The momentum and heat exchanges between a particle and the surrounding fluid at its surface are resolved using the immersed boundary method with the direct forcing scheme. The DNS-IB method has been used to study heat transfer of 1024 of heated spheres in a fluidized bed. By exploring the rich data generated from the DNS-IB simulations, we are able to obtain statistically averaged fluid and particle velocity as well as overall heat transfer rate in a fluidized bed.