CFD Solution for Low Tube-to-Particle Diameter Ratio Packed Beds

Abstract

Packed beds are the dominant reactor type for industrial heterogeneous catalytic reactions. Packing pattern affects the flow, heat and mass transfer characteristics within the beds. With the development of high performance computing and advances in CFD, it becomes possible to resolve flow/reactions in detail in packed beds, especially for beds with low tube-to-particle diameter ratio. In this paper a whole set of CFD solutions in dealing with such packed beds from packing, meshing, solving and post-processing is discussed. The solution process is illustrated by considering cylindrical beds packed with spherical balls. As an example, a plant-scale bed packed with about 1000 balls is simulated in the paper.