Simulation of Spherocylinder Particle Transport Phenomena using Discrete Element Method

Spherocylinder particle motion is simulated in three dimensions using a combined approach of discrete element method and computational fluid dynamics (DEM-CFD). This work is carried out since there are several limitations to use the spherical model for representing the transport phenomena of other particle geometries. Two thousands of particles in a 150×150×400 mm bed are studied for the particle motion, the effect of superficial gas velocity and the bed configuration on the particle temperature distribution and drying rate. The initial temperature and moisture content of particles is 298 K and 0.35, the temperature of the gas is 331.5 K. Heat transfer from gas to a particle is estimated using the modified Ranz-Marshall equation where the influence of surrounded particle on the heat transfer is considered. The results from random particle packing under the gravity are used as the initialize step of the simulations. From the simulation, the results are fairly realistic in particle motion, particle temperature distribution and the drying rate. The results demonstrate that the particle temperature distribution and the drying rate increase with the inlet gas velocity. For the number of feed inlets, the increasing number of feed inlet improves particle movement and particle temperature distribution. However, the drying rate of particles in 4 gas inlets bed decreases from the drying rate of particles in 2 feed inlets bed. This phenomenon comes from the air fed through each nozzle has a shorter period.