Interação CFD-DEM em fluidização: aplicação para o setor mineral

Abstract

The particle fluidization process is widely used in the industry, mainly due to the high heat and mass transfer rates between the phases. The coupling between the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and the Discrete Element Method (DEM) has become attractive for the simulation of fluidization, because in this case the particles movement is analyzed in a more direct way than in other types of approaches. The main problem with the CFD-DEM coupling is the high demand for computational capacity in order to track the movement of all the particles in the system, what it leads to the use of some strategies to reduce the simulation time which in case of incorrect usage can prejudice the results. The present work deals with the application of the CFD-DEM coupling in the analysis of alumina fluidization, which is an important problem for the mineral sector. It were analyzed several parameters capable of influencing the results and the simulation time like the time steps, the drag models, the particle size distribution, the spring constant, the usage of representative particles bigger than the actual particles, etc. The DEM model used was the Linear Spring Dashpot model (LSD). All the simulations were carried out with the software ANSYS FLUENT 14.5 and the results obtained were compared with experimental data and the data available in the literature. These results allowed to verify the capability of the Linear Spring Dashpot Model for predicting the global behavior of alumina beds and reducing the simulation time, since the model parameters are defined adequately.