Authors: Woo Chang Sung a, Jun Young Kim a,b, Seok Woo Chung c, Dong Hyun Lee a
a School of Chemical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, 2066 Seobu-Ro, Jangan, Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea
b Institute of Convergent Chemical Engineering and Technology, Sungkyunkwan University, 2066 Seobu-Ro, Jangan, Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea
c Institute for Advanced Engineering, Goan-ro 51beon-gil, Baegam-myeon, Cheoin-gu, Yongin 17528, Republic of Korea
Source: This paper was published in Advanced Powder Technology.
Abstract: The effect of particle size distribution on the hydrodynamics of dilute-phase pneumatic conveying system was analyzed using computational particle fluid dynamics (CPFD) simulation. The influence of a simulation parameter, i.e., correction factor of drag coefficient (k), on the hydrodynamics of pneumatic conveying system was determined via CPFD simulation. When results of simulation were compared with experimental data of previous studies, the average error of pressure drop per length predicted by the CPFD approach with the correction factor was below 4.4%. Saltation velocity and the pressure drop per unit length declined as the drag force coefficient increased. Simulation results also revealed that the pressure drop per length and the saltation velocity were decreased when the fine powder fraction in the particle size distribution was increased, although the width of particle size distribution was widened, and the standard deviation was increased. Finally, the Relative Standard Deviation (RSD) of pressure drop per length was measured and compared with median diameter (d50), Sauter mean diameter, geometric mean diameter, and arithmetic mean diameter. The RSD of the Sauter mean diameter was 5.8%, approximately twice less than the RSD value of d50 commonly used in pneumatic conveying.