Particle Technology and Fluidization Simulation of Fluidized Beds and Other Fluid- Particle Systems Using Statistical Mechanics

The expansion behavior and structural phenomena of fluid-particle systems was simulated using a method analogous to the Monte Carlo method for molecular systems. Individual particles are moved, and the resulting moves are accepted or declined based on the change in the system’s potential energy and the average kinetic energy of the system. Several fluid particle systems have been successfully predicted with the model including colloidal particle concentration profiles and random packing of uni fom spheres. Additionally, predictions of steady-state fluidized-bed expansion characteristics for uniformly sized stainless-steel spheres and narrowly distributed nickel and glass spheres show excellent agreement with the theoretical model used in the simulation and satisfactory agreement with experimental data. Dynamic expansion predictions of both bed height and overall bed structure as a function of time also agree with the experimental data.