Abstract
Discrete Element Method (DEM) is widely applied to the numerical simulations of fluidized beds. However, the computational expense increases explosively as the number of particles increases. This issue hinders DEM from being applied to real-scale simulations. A model particle is sometimes employed in order to overcome this problem, in which real particles are replaced by larger model particles. When the model particle is used, some conditions (e. g., superficial velocity, gas density, gas viscosity, particle density) must be adjusted accordingly. Those are referred to as the ‘similarity conditions.’ In this research the similarity conditions are derived from the equations of change through a dimensionless analysis. Bubble motions are compared between the model particle cases and the real particle case to validate the proposed similarity conditions.
