Three-dimensional CFD study of conical spouted beds containing heavy particles: Design parameters

Abstract

The flow behavior of conical spouted beds containing heavy particles that occurs in chemical vapor deposition (CVD) was investigated using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach. A fully Eulerian description of solid and gas phases flows in 3D was used in these simulations. The hydrodynamics parameters including particle velocity, solid flux, and solid volume fraction profiles at different bed levels were evaluated, and the overall behavior of solid particles in the beds was studied. The results showed close agreement with the corresponding experimental data. The effects of cone angle, static bed height, and cone bottom diameter on the hydrodynamic behavior of heavy particles were analyzed and the results were presented. In addition, the effects of flat wall of semi-conical spouted bed (half-column) on the CFD results and performance of the spouted bed were investigated. The hydrodynamic results for the full bed were quite different from those for the half bed geometries. It was also found that the conical spouted bed with the angle of 45° leads to the roughly stable spouting compared to the 30° angle bed. The CFD model also showed that the conical-cylindrical spouted beds operating with heavy particles has the potential for periodic occurrence of choking in the spout zone.