Abstract Accurate prediction of the local liquid volume fraction ( e L ) distribution, an important process parameter that governs the performance of Trickle Bed Reactors (TBRs), is still a challenge. In the present work, Eulerian multi-fluid simulations of local e L distribution were performed in a laboratory-scale pseudo-3D (rectangular) and cylindrical TBR and the predictions were compared with the Electrical Resistance Tomography (ERT) measurements of Singh et al. (2017). The effect of formulation of capillary pressure force ( F ‾ C ) was investigated and it was found that - P C ∇ e L definition of F ‾ C preserved the functional relation between the capillary pressure ( P C ) and e L , and that e L ∇ P C definition of F ‾ C reversed the same. Through the simulations performed for the pseudo-3D column, we showed that the alteration in the functional relation severely affects the ability of F ‾ C = e L ∇ P C definition to predict the effects of particle diameter, gas and liquid flow rates. It was elucidated that such an alteration underpredicts F ‾ C and could necessitate the inclusion of additional dispersion forces for particles with small diameters. F ‾ C implemented as - P C ∇ e L provided satisfactory predictions of the steady-state local e L distribution for the bed pre-wetted with the pseudo-Kan pre-wetting method. However, the P C model required an empirical correction ( [ ( d P / d thr ) ( e S ) 0.6 ] - 13.957 ) to predict the steady-state local e L distribution in the bed pre-wetted using the Levec method. While the modified F ‾ C predicted the time-averaged local e L distribution satisfactorily for different liquid flow rates and liquid distributor configurations, it was seen that further reduction in F ‾ C was required to predict the dynamic liquid spreading behavior under synthetically created pulsing flow conditions.

中文翻译：

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毛细压力对滴流床局部液体分布的影响

摘要 准确预测局部液体体积分数 (eL) 分布，这是控制滴流床反应器 (TBR) 性能的重要工艺参数，仍然是一个挑战。在目前的工作中，局部 e L 分布的欧拉多流体模拟在实验室规模的伪 3D（矩形）和圆柱形 TBR 中进行，并将预测与 Singh 等人的电阻断层扫描 (ERT) 测量值进行比较。(2017)。研究了毛细压力 (F ‾ C ) 公式的影响，发现 F ‾ C 的 -PC ∇ e L 定义保留了毛细压力 ( PC ) 和 e L 之间的函数关系，并且 e L ∇ F ‾ C 的 PC 定义反过来了。通过对伪 3D 列执行的模拟，我们表明，函数关系的改变严重影响了 F ‾ C = e L ∇ PC 定义预测粒径、气体和液体流速影响的能力。已经阐明，这种改变低估了 F ‾ C，并且可能需要为小直径颗粒加入额外的色散力。F ‾ C 实现为 - PC ∇ e L 为使用伪 Kan 预润湿方法预润湿的床的稳态局部 e L 分布提供了令人满意的预测。然而，PC 模型需要经验修正 ([ ( d P / d thr ) ( e S ) 0.6 ] - 13.957 ) 以预测使用 Levec 方法预先润湿的床层中的稳态局部 e L 分布。