Pressure drops in the flow of gases through packed and distended beds of spherical particles

Abstract

AbstractPressure drop measurements were made across packed and distended beds having five layers of smooth plastic spheres, 1.23 in. in diamter, arranged in cubic, body‐centered cubic, and face‐centered cubic orientations of void fractions varying from 0.354 to 0.882. The distended beds were prepared by separating the spheres with permanently attached short lengths of fine rigid wire. Friction factors were calculated from the overall pressure drop measurements with the Ergun equation and were plotted against the corresponding modified Reynolds number which ranged from 2,550 to 64,900. A single relationship resulted for both types of beds which is independent of the geometric orientation and void fraction of the spheres of the bed.To eliminate entrance and exit effects of the air flowing through the bed pressure drop measurements were also made across the middle layer of each distended bed. Again a single relationship between the corresponding friction factors and modified Reynolds number was obtained which is independent of the geometric orientation and void fraction of the bed.From the two relationships between friction factors and modified Reynolds number the ratio Pk/fk for a packed or distended bed having five layers of spheres is 1.13. This ratio should decrease with increasing number of layers of spheres and approach the limiting value of 1 when the number of layers becomes very large.