Computational fluid dynamics simulation of spray dryers: transient or steady state simulation?

Self-sustained fluctuating airflow behaviour in spray drying chambers is in essence an unsteady phenomenon requiring the transient CFD simulation framework. There is currently, however, a mixture of steady state and transient CFD simulations of spray dryers practised and reported in the literature. The choice between steady state and transient approach significantly affects the computation time of the simulation and subsequently the adoption of this approach by industry. This paper firstly examines in detail the bottleneck in computation time of the transient simulation approach. Based on past reports, this review paper then presents a discussion and provides several recommendations on the use of steady state and transient simulation approach for spray dryers. Keywords: CFD simulation, spray drying, transient, steady state, fluctuation