Pressure fluctuations within a large particle gas fluidized bed in the presence of horizontal tube banks

A bench-scale fluidized bed has been designed and constructed for the investigation of pressure fluctuations within a large particle gas fluidized bed in the presence of horizontal tube banks. The pressure fluctuations inside the fluidized bed are investigated under different operating conditions, including a range of fluidization velocities, two particle sizes and two configurations of the tube banks. Different flow parameters like the standard deviation of the pressure fluctuations, 90% fluctuation ranges, power spectral density functions, dominant fluctuation frequencies, autocorrelation and crosscorrelation coefficients, and Hurst exponents by fractal analysis are determined. From the experimental data, quantitative information on the fluctuations are generated for use in evaluating the dynamic behavior of the fluidized bed. These parameters are found to strongly depend on fluidization velocity, configurations of tube banks and position in the bed. The flow regime characteristics with different flow parameters are discussed according to these results.