Numerical Simulation of Swelling Behavior of Coal Particles

Abstract

The swelling of a packed bed of coal during carbonization was numerically investigated. The coal particles were assumed to be spheres capable of swelling. When falling particles of the same size, the height of the packed bed was determined by the particle size, and during swelling of particles of the same size, the height of the packed bed was also determined by the particle size. However, the height of the packed bed with different particle sizes was lower than that of the packed bed with particles of the same size. This was owing to the densifying of the smaller particles between the larger particles. When the swelling ratio of the particles in the differently packed beds was 25%, no difference in dilatation was observed. By fitting the numerical solutions and previous experimental data, the difference in the swelling ratio between the smaller and larger particles was 16.8%.