Particle-Scale Study of Structural Transition of Solid Phase in Gas-Fluidized Beds

Bed structure is important to heat and mass transfer in fluidization. This study investigates solid structural transition for cohesive particles by the combined approach of computational fluid dynamics and discrete element method, supported by Voronoi tessellation. Macroscopic behaviors of fluidized beds are first discussed in connection with microscopic structural transitions. Then, the properties of Voronoi polyhedra are analyzed at both bed and particle scales. In addition, the correlation of coordination number and porosity is examined at a particle scale, and their combined probability distribution is analyzed to identify dominant structure of particles in different flow regimes. Finally, an index is proposed as the ratio of coordination number and porosity to differentiate microscopic states of a particle. These findings should be useful for the study of flow, heat, and mass transfer in fluidized beds and for the understanding of solid-like to fluid-like transition of granular materials.