Abstract
Coarse particles in a solid-liquid flow through a pipe settle and come into contact with each other at the bottom of the pipe. In order to simulate such flows by means of the conventional point force model, the grid size of the continuous phase must be much larger than the particle diameter. This causes low resolution of fluid velocity. In this study, a method for simulating a flow containing spherical particles 1.7-times larger than the size of the fluid grid was mentioned. A distinct element method (DEM) used for uniform particles in diameter was also improved for particles with size distribution. A comparison of results obtained by simulation with experimental observations indicated that results with acceptable levels of engineering accuracy for predicting motions of coarse particles in solid-liquid flows can be obtained by using the proposed method.
