82f Discrete Element Method Simulation of a Dense Phase Conveying System

Bing Du1, Ting(Tim) Han2, Nestor A. Vasquez3, and Joerg Theuerkauf2. (1) The Dow Chemical Company, 2301 N. Brazosport Blvd., Freeport, TX 77541, (2) Solids Processing, Engineering & Process Science, The Dow Chemical Company, Freeport, TX 77566, (3) R&D, The Dow Chemical Company, 1319 Bldg., Midland, MI 48667

In the chemical industry many conveying systems are used to move granular material in between different process steps. The most common types of pneumatic conveying modes are dilute and dense phase. This paper focuses on the modeling of a dense phase conveying system. The simulation is done by coupling a flow solver with a Discrete Element Method solver.

The presented results show the correlations for plug stability, length and porosity as a function of the conveying velocity. The numerical results are compared with experimental results.