Calculation of particle–wall adhesion in horizontal gas–solids flow using CFD

The horizontal pneumatic conveying of fine particles is simulated with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) including the particle–wall adhesion. The simulation is performed with FLUENT, whereby the dispersed phase (quartz powder, dP,50=3 μm) is described with the Lagrange approach. The continuous phase is resolved with the Realizable k–ɛ model. Models not provided by FLUENT are implemented via user defined functions. A horizontal pipe with a length of 3 m and an inner diameter of 50 mm is used for the calculation. The influence of different wall treatments on pressure drop and particle–wall adhesion is shown. Furthermore, several parameters are varied (e.g., electrostatic charge of particles, air velocity). The results are evaluated with measured data.