Numerical simulation on dense phase pneumatic conveying of pulverized coal in horizontal pipe at high pressure

Abstract

A kinetic–frictional model, which treats the kinetic and frictional stresses in an additive manner, was incorporated into the two fluid model based on the kinetic theory of granular flow to simulate three dimensional flow behaviors of dense phase pneumatic conveying of pulverized coal in horizontal pipe. The kinetic stress was modeled by the kinetic theory of granular flow, while the friction stress is from the combination of the normal frictional stress model proposed by Johnson and Jackson [1987. Frictional–collisional constitutive relations for granular materials, with application to plane shearing. Journal of Fluid Mechanics 176, 67–93] and the modeled frictional shear viscosity model proposed by Syamlal et al. [1993. MFIX documentation and theory guide, DOE/METC94/1004, NTIS/DE94000087. Electronically available from http://www.mfix.org], which was modified to fit experimental data. For the solid concentration and gas phase Reynolds number was high, the gas phase and particle phase were all treated as turbulent flow. The experiment was carried out to validate the prediction results by three kinds of measurement methods. The predicted pressure gradients were in good agreement with experimental data. The predicted solid concentration distribution at cross section agreed well with electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) image, and the effects of superficial velocity on solid concentration distribution were discussed. The formation and motion process of slug flow was demonstrated, which is similar to the visualization photographs by high speed video camera.