Numerical Flow Visualization in Basic- and Hyper-Cluster Spheres

Abstract

Packed spherical particle beds have wide applications throughout the process industry and are usually analyzed using an appropriate combination of laminar and turbulent flows with empirically derived coefficients of which the Ergun (1952) relation is probably the best known. The 3-D complexity of the void distribution within the beds has precluded detailed studies of sphere clusters. Numerical modeling and flow vector visualization for the basic tetra- and hexa-sphere clusters and two hyper-sphere clusters are presented at two Reynolds numbers, 400 and 1200. Cutting planes are used to enable visualization of the complex flows generated within the sphere clusters and are discussed herein. The boundary conditions and flow fields for the simple clusters are also compared to the hyper-clusters with larger variations found for hexa-clusters.