Onset of fluidization and slugging in beds of uniform particles

Abstract

AbstractA comprehensive investigation has been made of the boundaries of the regime of bubbling aggregative fluidization. Experiments were done with sand, glass beads, clover seed, and iron shot fluidized with helium, air, and freon‐12 in columns 2.5, 5, 10, and 21 cm in diameter. Bed heights ranged from 1 to 60 column diameters, particle diameters from 0.07 to 1.1 mm, particle densities from 1300 to 7600 kg/m3, and gas densities from 0.17 to 5.2 kg/m3. Correlations are presented for the void fraction at the minimum bubbling point and for the superficial fluid velocity at the points of minimum fluidization, minimum bubbling, and minimum slugging.