Partic. vol. 8 no. 3 pp. 293-299 (June 2010)
doi: 10.1016/j.partic.2009.10.005

Numerical simulation of flow and heat transfer in a random packed bed

Xueyan Guo^*, Ren Dai

xyguo@usst.edu.cn

Abstract

Random packed beds have more complex interior structure than structured beds and are widely used in industry and engineering. CFD simulation was carried out to investigate and analyze the local flow and heat transfer in a 120-sphere random packed bed. 3D Navier–Stokes equation was solved with a finite volume formulation based on the Chimera meshing technique. Investigation was focused on low Reynolds number flow (Re = 4.6–56.2), which typically occurs in packed bed reactors in bio-chemical fields. Detailed temperature field information was obtained. Inhomogeneity of flow and heat transfer due to the non-uniform distribution of void fraction was discussed and analyzed.

Keywords

Packed bed; Heat transfer; Chimera grid; Numerical simulation; Low Reynolds number