Disclosing the particle scale to enable reliable full-scale simulations of gas-solids flow

Research Project, 2024 – 2027

Modeling of gas-solids flow is central for both advance in the scientific field of multiphase flow and development of industrial sectors applying gas-solids operations (e.g., energy, chemicals, pharmaceutics, metallurgy). However, current modeling of gas-solids flow is limited by: i) insufficient reliability due to inaccurate descriptions of the flow parameters at the micro-scale, and ii) unaffordable computational costs of full-scale simulations.This project serves the purpose of developing reliable modeling of gas-solids flow by experimentally gaining novel knowledge of the gas-solids flow at the micro-scale and use it to improve the critical modeling expressions for sub-grid momentum transfer with validated descriptions. This is a critical aspect, since micro-scale gas-solids flow phenomena remain largely unknown despite they are recognized to govern the flow picture at the larger scales. To experimentally access the micro-scale, a unique technique based on THz-radar will be employed which recently demonstrated unprecedented levels of resolution, accuracy, and penetration. Regarding the achievement of full-scale simulations at significantly lowered computing cost, the project will investigate application of state-of-the-art strategies for reduced computational effort in numerical modeling (recurrence computational fluid-dynamics and deep learning) to the field of gas-solids flow, having as object the model improved with validated description of the micro-scale flow.