(455d) LDV Measurements of Liquid-Solid Flow in a Vertical Pipe

Fluid-particle flows are prevalent across a diverse range of industrial and geophysical processes. In many of these applications, particles engage in collisions both with each other and the confining vessel. In these same applications, there are also complex interactions between the fluid and the solid phases that significantly influence particle interactions.

The vast majority of research and our best understanding of fluid-particle flows within the scientific community are for processes operating exclusively in either the inertia-dominated regime - where the influence of the fluid phase on the direct interactions between particles is neglected - or the macro-viscous regime - where the fluid phase plays the significant role in the mechanics of particle momentum transport. These regimes of flow occur in both gas-solid and liquid-solid systems. And, the fundamental predictive models that currently exist do not adequately describe fluid-particle flow in the ?transitional? regime, between the viscous and interia-dominated regimes.

One key limitation impeding improved understanding and the development of fundamental models is the lack of detailed, non-intrusive flow measurements for this ?transitional? regime. There is also a lack of measurements that bridge the transitional regime with both the inertia-dominated and viscous-dominated regimes. Hence, this talk will present detailed, non-intrusive LDV/PDPA measurements obtained in a unique, pilot-scale, slurry flow loop. By varying the flow velocity, particle concentration, and particle size, the range of regimes of flow behavior are spanned - from the inertia to the viscous-dominated regime. The resulting flow measurements enable significant advancements in the understanding of fluid-particle flows. In addition, these flow measurements will be a benchmark in the scientific literature for model development and validation.