Numerical Simulation of Flow Distribution in the Packed Bed Reactor with the Supply Nozzle Placed on the Sidewall

Abstract

Flow distribution is an important process step of many technologies such as heating or cooling systems, microchannel reactors, bubble columns and fixed- or fluidized-bed reactors etc. The present work is devoted to numerical simulation of flow distribution in the pre-reactor unit of the packed bed reactor used for filtrating combustion of fuel mixtures. A special modification of the construction is considered namely the construction with a nozzle for fuel mixture supply placed on the sidewall of the apparatus. The problem formulation, the best practices and opportunities of numerical simulation of the flow distribution effect in packed bed reactors are discussed in the present paper. The length of the flow distribution zone in a wide range of mixture inlet velocity is calculated.