Solid flow in the annular region of a spouted bed

Abstract The solid circulation in the annular region of a 0.146 and a 0.292 m ID semicylindrical and cylindrical air spouted beds was investigated for different spouting conditions. Stroboscopic photography, stopwatch and fiber optic methods were used to measure the vertical particle velocities in the annular region. The optical fiber probe enabled the measurement of particle velocities inside the dense annular phase and was validated at the walls. Velocity profiles in half beds were very different from those found in full beds. The work was then limited to full beds. Experimental results show that the solids flow is characterized by a point sink at the nozzle entrance with the solids moving almost in plug flow higher in the bed. There is negligible entrainment of solids along the spout wall and slow, thin wall layers are observed near the walls and spout. The velocity profiles are independent of the total height of the bed. A kinematic model successfully describes the observed velocity field.