Two-fluid modeling of a wet spouted fluidized bed with wet restitution coefficient model

Hydrodynamics of wet fluidized beds is significantly affected by the liquid bridge force between solid particles. In this study, two-fluid modeling of wet fluidizations with wet restitution coefficient model was realized in Ansys Fluent® through its user-defined function portal. Wet restitution coefficient was calculated using the sub-model proposed by Davis et al. (Elastohydrodynamic rebound of spheres from coated surfaces, J. Fluid Mech., 2002, 468, 107–109.), which depends on liquid viscosity, liquid layer thickness, and impacting velocity. A spouted bed with central air nozzle at the bottom was chosen as the simulation system. The simulation was first validated against available experimental and CFD-DEM results. Then, effects of the liquid viscosity and liquid layer thickness on fluidization hydrodynamics and distributions of relevant quantities were investigated. The simulation results demonstrate that the effect of liquid viscosity is significant while the influence of liquid layer thickness can be ignored in the current study. Finally, some thoughts on future studies for two-fluid modeling of wet fluidizations with wet restitution coefficient model were discussed.