Fluidization of solid particles of different friction coefficients: experiments and numerical simulations

• Grant number: 24/02440-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate (Direct)
• Start date: September 09, 2024
• End date: September 08, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Mechanical Engineering - Transport Phenomena
• Principal Investigator: Erick de Moraes Franklin
• Grantee: Vinícius Pereira da Silva Oliveira
• Supervisor: Jorge Manuel Peixinho
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia Mecânica (FEM). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Arts et Métiers, France
• Associated to the scholarship: 20/00221-0 - Solid-liquid fluidized beds: fluid flow, grain dynamics and pattern formation, BP.DD

Abstract

Fluidized beds are generally used when an increase in mass and/or heat transfers is desired, being commonly found in pharmaceutical (tablet granulation), mining (sediment separation and classification), and sanitation (water treatment) processes, for instance. With the increasing demand for minerals and water treatment worldwide, improving these processes is crucial to achieving economic development and environmental protection goals. The rheological approximations available for dense granular suspensions such as very-narrow fluidized beds do not describe well the inter-particle behavior in the presence of friction, and, therefore, precise rheological approximations can assist in the selection of materials and design of narrow fluidized beds for the various applications aforementioned. Based on this scenario, we propose for this project: I) the accurate measurement of the solid-solid and effective friction coefficients for granular media; II) the validation of particle-particle friction coefficients obtained experimentally and in resolved CFD-DEM (computational fluid dynamics - discrete element method) simulations. The experiments will be carried out in the Laboratoire Procédés et Ingénierie en Mécanique et Matériaux (PIMM) of the École Nationale Supérieure d'Arts et Métiers (ENSAM) and the simulations using the cluster of ENSAM, both under the supervision of Dr. Jorge Peixinho. Note that Dr. Peixinho is already collaborating with UNICAMP and FAPESP via a FAPESP-CNRS Sprint grant (in the framework of a JP2 - Jovem Pesquisador Fase 2 grant, process n. 2018/14981-7, in which the PhD scholarship of Vinicius Oliveira is inserted). Given their diverse applications, a better understanding of narrow solid-liquid fluidized beds has a direct impact on environmental protection, sanitation, human health, and mining. In practical terms, the BEPE internship will be important for the formation of the PhD candidate, the JP2 grant, the UNICAMP-ENSAM collaboration, and CNRS-FAPESP collaborations.