Structural Properties of Beds Packed with Ternary Mixtures of Spherical Particles: Part I–Global Properties

Abstract

An experimental investigation of the global properties of cylindrical beds packed with ternary mixtures of spherical particles is described. The water displacement technique is used to determine the influence of different ternary mixtures of spherical particles on the mean voidage of such beds, as well as the effect of bed ends and different packing procedures. Over the range of beds and packings examined, the mean voidage of beds containing ternary mixtures is found to be affected by the tube-to-equivalent particle diameter ratio, the relative percentages of particles in a mixture, and the size ratio of the particle diameters, with ternary mixtures generally resulting in lower mean voidage values than for beds packed with mono-sized or binary mixtures of particles. Bed end, or entrance, effects on mean voidage are found to be significant for values of the ratio of bed length-to-diameter less than 3, with compression during packing resulting in the lowest overall mean voidage values. Complementary studies to evaluate the local properties of such beds are considered in a companion paper.