Numerical simulation on dense phase pneumatic conveying of pulverized coal in horizontal pipe at high pressure

A new method of flow blockage collapsing in the horizontal pipe: the pipe-rotation mechanism

In dense pneumatic conveying, flow blockage is a severe problem in the horizontal pipe, so accelerating the collapse velocity of blockage can improve the efficiency of powder transportation. In this paper, we offered a new method of the pipe-rotation mechanism and focused on the effect of this method on blockage collapse from collapse velocity, mass flow rate, and the change of the particle region. The physical model developed is horizontal pipe-rotation geometry at a uniform rotational speed of 0, 150, 300, 450, and 600 rpm, respectively. Then we used a computational fluid dynamics and discrete element method (CFD-DEM) model to investigate a single slug of particles passing through these geometries. The results show that collapse velocity and the mass flow rate increase with increasing rotational speed, which proves that the pipe-rotation mechanism can accelerate the collapse of flow blockage evidently. Moreover, the pipe-rotation mechanism changes the particle region significantly, which is polarized in the lower half of the pipe. It is trusted that the findings reported in this paper well serve as a helping source for further studies toward dense pneumatic conveying.

A Numerical Study of Aeolian Sand Particle Flow Incorporating Granular Pseudofluid Optimization and Large Eddy Simulation

A numerical investigation of aeolian sand particle flow in atmospheric boundary layer is performed with a Eulerian–Eulerian granular pseudofluid model. In this model, the air turbulence is modelled with a large eddy simulation, and a kinetic–frictional constitutive model incorporating frictional stress and the kinetic theory of granular flow is applied to describe the interparticle movement. The simulated profiles of streamwise sand velocity and sand mass flux agree well with the reported experiments. The quantitative discrepancy between them occurs near the sand bed surface, which is due to the difference in sand sample, but also highlights the potential of the present model in addressing near-surface mass transport. The simulated profiles of turbulent root mean square (RMS) particle velocity suggest that the interparticle collision mainly account for the fluctuation of sand particle movement.