A transient Eulerian-Eulerian simulation of bubbling regime hydrodynamics of coal ash particles in fluidized bed using different drag models

The transient multiphase model with the Eulerian-Eulerian approach based on the Two-Fluid Model (TFM) was executed to simulate the bubbling regime’s hydrodynamics of bed material in the fluidized bed using three different drag models. Coal ash particles having three different sizes were taken in bed for fluidization under cold conditions. The bubbling regime's superficial velocities were acquired from experimentations and used as inlet velocities during Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation of a 2-Dimensional fluidized bed. The Syamlal-O'Brien, Gidaspow and Wen-Yu drag models were considered in this study, and their effects on the bed hydrodynamics were discussed. The study emphasized the suitability of drag models for the coal ash particles. The drag force was not adequate and showed a negligible effect on particles irrespective of the high inlet velocity displayed by the Gidaspow model. The other two drag models predicted sufficient drag, but there was more intensity in Syamlal-O'Brien than in the Wen-Yu model. The Syamlal-O'Brien model resembled more physical fluidization occurrences for smaller and larger sized coal ash particles. This study also supports the hydrodynamics of the Geldart-D type particles.