Powder discharge from a hopper-standpipe system modelled with CPFD

•Powder discharge from hopper-standpipe system was modelled by CPFD method.•Solids and gas flow in hopper-standpipe geometries were obtained and analyzed.•Hopper outlet diameter and half angle were varied to evaluate their effect.•CPFD computation times are in a range between tens and hundreds of minutes.•The CPFD model predicts solid mass flow rates with errors generally below 5%.

In this paper, computational particle fluid dynamic (CPFD) modelling approach was used to describe the discharge of a fine glass beads powder from different hopper-standpipe geometries. The comparison between the CPFD predictions and the experimental results in terms of solid discharge rates, surface cone shape during discharge and pressure drops in the standpipe. The comparison allowed to assess on the possibility to use the CPFD modelling approach to simulate the powder flow in the hopper-standpipe system even accounting for the rather complex interactions between the interstitial gas and the particles occurring in the presence of a standpipe. Furthermore, the effect of hopper geometry on powder discharge was investigated with the CPFD model and verified experimentally in some purposely built hoppers. Finally, the relationships between the hopper geometry parameters (hopper outlet diameter and hopper half angle) and the flow parameters (solid discharge rate, height of characteristic surface, particle volume fraction, particle velocity, gas pressure and flow pattern) were obtained.

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