Abstract
Glass beads of four sizes were fluidized in a spouted bed comprising a 50 mm-diameter transparent acrylic column and a coaxial draft tube. Draft tube diameter, separation distance and particle size were varied and spouting states were observed.
It was found that stable spouting occurred when the air velocity in the tube exceeded about 79% of particle terminal velocity. The correlation proposed to predict minimum stable spouting velocities was expressed as a function of the variables above and particle terminal velocity, and the predicted values agreed with experimental data within ± 11% deviation.
