Particle Dynamics in a Fluidized Bed Reactor
Fluidized bed reactors are a promising technology for the thermo-chemicalconversion of biomass in biofuel production. However, the current understandingof the behavior of the materials in a fluidized bed is limited. We are usinghigh-fidelity simulations to better understand the mechanics of the conversionprocesses. This video visualizes a simulation of a periodic bed of sandfluidized by a gas stream injected at the bottom. A Lagrangian approachdescribes the solid phase, in which particles with a soft-sphere collisionmodel are individually tracked along the reactor. A large-scale point-particledirect numerical simulation involving 12 millions particles and 4 million meshpoints has been performed, requiring 512 cores for 4 days. The onset offluidization is characterized by the formation of several large bubbles thatrise and burst at the surface and is followed by a pseudo-steady turbulentmotion showing intense bubble activity.
(circa 2010)
Detail view of the particle rendering.
Extracting bubbles through a 4D connected component analysis on a gas-volume-fraction threshold.
Coordinating views between bubble segmentation, bubble contour tree, and parallel coordinates plot.
Cross-sections of the bed.
