Modelling the bed characteristics in fluidised-beds for top-spray coating processes

► A particle sub-model, describing the bed characteristics in terms of bed heights and particle distribution, is presented. ► Grey-box model is based on theoretical and empirical data from the literature and complemented with abstractions. ► Additional assumptions because information and data in the literature are sparse or non-existent. ► The model was capable of predicting the bed characteristics with good accuracy in less than 5 min calculation on a regular desktop PC.