MECHANISTIC MODEL FOR ONSET VELOCITY PREDICTION FOR REGIME TRANSITION FROM BUBBLING TO TURBULENT FLUIDIZATION

An earlier study revealed a flow regime transition mechanism in that as the bubble flow characteristics vary from the coalesced to breakup conditions, the prevailing flow regime undergoes transition from bubbling to turbulent fluidization. On the basis of this mechanism, a mathematical model is developed in this study to account for the onset velocity for this regime transition. Comparisons of the model prediction with the experimental data are also made.