Experimental characterization of random packed spheres, cylinders and rings, and their influence on pressure drop

Jennie von Seckendorff, Normen Szesni, Richard Fischer, Olaf Hinrichsen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Scopus citations

Abstract

The reliable prediction of the pressure drop of packed-beds requires an accurate understanding of the packing characteristics. Therefore, packings of spheres, cylinders and hollow cylinders are studied: firstly, developing a reproducible and easily achievable packing generation method by single particle dropping; secondly, evaluating and correlating the average bed porosity as a function of the tube-to-particle diameter ratio λ, the diameter-to-height aspect ratio and the inner-to-outer diameter aspect ratio. The packed-bed pressure drop was measured, thoroughly evaluating the influence of particle filling speed, the error propagation from porosity deviations resulting in a multiplication factor of 3.1–3.9 for spheres and 2.4–3.0 for cylinders depending on material characteristics, and the influence of particle surface roughness, with rough particles increasing the packing friction by 17.5%. A novel Carman-type pressure drop correlation for smooth equilateral cylinder packings valid for Rep = 10–3000 is described.

Original languageEnglish
Article number115644
JournalChemical Engineering Science
Volume222
DOIs
StatePublished - 31 Aug 2020

Keywords

  • Average voidage
  • Cylinder packings
  • Packed beds
  • Pressure drop

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