Numerical Simulation of Dense Gas-Solid Fluidized Beds: A Multiscale Modeling Strategy

Gas-solid fluidized beds are widely applied in many chemical processes involving physical and/or chemical transformations, and for this reason they are the subject of intense research in chemical engineering science. Over the years, researchers have developed a large number of numerical models of gas-fluidized beds that describe gas-solid flow at different levels of detail. In this review, we discriminate these models on the basis of whether a Lagrangian or a Eulerian approach is used for the gas and/or particulate flow and subsequently classify them into five main categories, three of which we discuss in more detail. Specifically, these are resolved discrete particle models (also called direct numerical simulations), unresolved discrete particle models (also called discrete element models), and two-fluid models. For each of the levels of description, we give the general equations of motion and indicate how they can be solved numerically by finite-difference techniques, followed by some illustrative examples of a fluidized bed simulation. Finally, we address some of the challenges ahead in the multiscale modeling of gas-fluidized beds.