II YEAR / SEMESTER III SCH1203- FLUID MECHANICS UNIT – III

Prepared by : Dr. B.S. NAVEEN PRASAD

UNIT – III

FLOW PAST IMMERSED BODIES AND FLUIDIZATION

Effect of solid on fluids to be studied

Fluid may be at rest or solid moving or vice versa or both.

A Solid is immersed in and surrounded by fluids.

Drag and Drag coefficient:

The force in the direction of flow exerted by the fluid on the solid is called drag. By Newton’s
third law equal and opposite net forces exerted by the object.

If the wall of the object is parallel to the direction of flow only Drag force acting on it is wall
Drag.

If the wall of the object is perpendicular to the direction of flow drag flow along with fluid
pressure which acts in direction Normal to the wall.

Drag comes from pressure component in the direction of flow.

The total Drag is the sum of two components.

Wall Drag and Form Drag on immersed object

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING SATHYABAMA UNIVERSITY

II YEAR / SEMESTER III SCH1203- FLUID MECHANICS UNIT – III

Prepared by : Dr. B.S. NAVEEN PRASAD

The drag force from wall is given by .

The drag force from pressure component is given by .

The total drag is the sum of two quantities evaluated over the entire surface of the body in
contact with the fluid.

The total integrated drag from wall shear is called wall drag. And the total integrated drag from
pressure is called form drag.

In potential flow as viscosity is zero, = 0. So no net drag in potential flow.

For actual fluid wall drag and form drag are complicated, drag cannot be predicted.

For spheres and other regular shapes, at low velocity flow pattern and drag coefficients can be
estimated from the correlations.

Drag coefficient (CD)

It is defined as the ratio of FD/Ap to the product of velocity head and density.

CD = ________ 1

Where = Total drag force acting on the particle

= projected area

U0 = fluid velocity of approaching stream

= density of fluid

Drag force for a sphere is given by stokes equation

FD= _______ 2

Substitute 2 in 1

CD =

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING SATHYABAMA UNIVERSITY

II YEAR / SEMESTER III SCH1203- FLUID MECHANICS UNIT – III

Prepared by : Dr. B.S. NAVEEN PRASAD

CD=

CD=

Flow of fluids through porus media or Ergun’s equation

The total pressure drop to the bed of solids is related to total drag of the fluid on the solid
boundaries of the twisted channels through the bed of particles.

The actual channels are irregular in shape of variable cross section and orientations are highly
interconnected. To calculate the average velocity it is assumed that actual channels are replaced
by a set of identical parallel conduits of same cross sectional area to allow for a change in cross
section, size and shape. The total drag per unit area of the channel is the sum of two forces,
viscous force and inertial force.

It is assumed that the particles are packed at random with preferred orientation of an individual
particle, all particles is of same size and shape, and wall effects and roughness are neglected.

From Hagen-Poiseuille’s equation

P
=
L

For equivalent diameter V

P
= __________ 1
L

The average velocity is given by

V= ________ 2

Where is the superficial or empty tower velocity

= Porocity or void fraction

Porocity is defined as the ratio of volume of solids in bed to the total volume of the bed.

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING SATHYABAMA UNIVERSITY

II YEAR / SEMESTER III SCH1203- FLUID MECHANICS UNIT – III

Prepared by : Dr. B.S. NAVEEN PRASAD

The total surface area is given by

As = NsSp__________ 3

Where Np – number of particles

Sp – surface area of the particle

Sphericity ( )

It is the ratio of surface area to volume ratio of the sphere to the surface area to volume ratio of
irregular particle.

= 1, Regular shape particles

< 1, irregular shape particles

Sp = _______ 4

If L is the total bed depth and So be the empty tower area.

The total volume occupied by the particles will be SoL(1- )

The Number of particles is given by

Np =

Np = _________ 5

Substitute 4 and 5 in 3

As = _______ 6

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING SATHYABAMA UNIVERSITY

II YEAR / SEMESTER III SCH1203- FLUID MECHANICS UNIT – III

Prepared by : Dr. B.S. NAVEEN PRASAD

The hydraulic radius (rh) is given by the ratio of volume of voids in the tower to total area of
solids.

Volume of voids =

rh= _________ 7

rh=

rh = ________ 8

W.K.T Deq = 4rh _______ 9

Substitute 8 in 9

Deq = 4 _______ 10

Substitute 2 and 10 in 1

= _________ 11

To account for the twist in the channels a constant  1 is added to equation 11

= _________ 12

Several experiments have been shown that  1 has the value of 150/72

Substitute  1 in 12

= ________ 13

The above equation is called kozeny caraman equation or Blake Kozeny equation

For large Reynolds number above 1000 viscous force becomes negligible and inertial force
dominates therefore, we know that fanning’s friction factor is given by

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING SATHYABAMA UNIVERSITY

II YEAR / SEMESTER III SCH1203- FLUID MECHANICS UNIT – III

Prepared by : Dr. B.S. NAVEEN PRASAD

For equivalent diameter the equation becomes

= _________ 4

Substitute 2 and 10 in 14

= _________ 15

To account for twist in the channel a constant is added in the above equation

= _______ 16

An emperical correlation for the pressure drop in the packed beds is given in the above equation
for higher Reynolds number is developed and by giving = 1.75 in equation 16

= _________ 17

The above equation is called Burke- plummer equation

An equation concerning the entire range of flow rates can be obtained by adding equation 13 and
17

= + __________ 18

The above equation is called Ergun’s equation

Motion of particles through fluids

When a particles is moving through a fluid three types of forces will be acting on it

 The external force (Fe), it may be gravitational force or centrifugal force.

 Boyancy force (Fb) which acts parallel to the external force but opposite in direction
 Drag force (FD) which appears when there is a relative motion between the solid and fluid
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING SATHYABAMA UNIVERSITY
II YEAR / SEMESTER III SCH1203- FLUID MECHANICS UNIT – III

Prepared by : Dr. B.S. NAVEEN PRASAD

Resultant force = Fe-Fb-FD _________ 1

The Resultant force is the given in terms of momentum to the particle and the particle moves
down with an acceleration du/dt

m = Fe-Fb-FD______ 2

The external force Fe can be given as a product of mass and acceleration of the particle

Fe = mae _______ 3

The buoyancy force is equal to the product of mass of liquid displaced due to particle settling
and acceleration due to gravity

Fb =

=density of particle

= density of water

The drag force is given by

FD = ________ 5

Substitute 3, 4, and 5 in 2

m = mae -

put ae = g

=( ________ 6

Equation 6 is called the motion of particles through fluids

Settling velocity or terminal settling velocity

Gravitational settling g is constant, the drag always increases with the velocity according to
equation 6 , the acceleration decreases with time and approaches to zero . The particle quickly
reaches a constant velocity which is the maximum attainable velocity under this condition is
called terminal velocity or settling velocity or terminal settling velocity

When du/dt =0 and u=ut

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING SATHYABAMA UNIVERSITY
II YEAR / SEMESTER III SCH1203- FLUID MECHANICS UNIT – III

Prepared by : Dr. B.S. NAVEEN PRASAD

=( ________ 6

0= ( ________ 6

ut = ________ 7

Equation 7 is called as terminal settling velocity

Free settling:

when the particles is at sufficient distance from the boundary of the container and from other
particles , so that its fall is not affected by them , then such a process is called free settling.

Hindered settling:

If the motion of the particle is affected by other particle which will happen when the particles are
nearer to each other they may not be actually colloiding. This type of process is called as
Hindered settling.

Motion of spherical particles under free settling

We know that for a spherical particles of m

m= =

Ap=

Substitute in 7

ut = _________ 8

For particles moving with constant velocity under force the Drag coefficient is related to particle
Reynolds number (Rep)

CD=

When b1 and n are constants the values of b1 and n depends upon various range of settling

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING SATHYABAMA UNIVERSITY

II YEAR / SEMESTER III SCH1203- FLUID MECHANICS UNIT – III

Prepared by : Dr. B.S. NAVEEN PRASAD

CD= _______ 9

Substitute 9 in 8

ut=( ) __________ 10

It is called the general equation for terminal settling velocity in terms of diameter of particles
and properties of solids and fluids.

Range of settling b1 n Rep

Stokes Range 24 1 0-1
Intermediate range 18.5 0.6 1-1000
Newton’s range 0.44 0 >1000

For stoke’s range b1=24 and n=1

Substitute in 10

ut=( )_________ 11

The above is the terminal settling velocity for stokes range

For intermediate range b1=18.5 and n=0.6

Substitute in 10

ut=( )_________ 12

For Newton’s range b1=0.44 and n=0

ut=1.74(

Criterion equation for settling

If ut of a particle of known diameter and Reynolds number is unknown choice of equation

(stokes, Intermediate and Newton’s) cannot be made.

W.K.T
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING SATHYABAMA UNIVERSITY
II YEAR / SEMESTER III SCH1203- FLUID MECHANICS UNIT – III

Prepared by : Dr. B.S. NAVEEN PRASAD

Rep = ________ 1

For stokes range ut=( )_________ 2

Substitute 2 in 1

Rep = ________ 3

K= Dp(

Rep =

K = 2.62 for particles lies in stokes range

K = 68.89 for particles lies in Newton’s range

K = 2.62 and 68.89 for particles in intermediate range.

Fluidization:

When a liquid or a gas passed as a very low velocity up through a bed of solid particle, the
particles do not move, if the fluid velocity is steadily increased the pressure drop and the drag on
the individual particle increase and the particle starts to move and become suspended in a fluid.
This is known as fluidization.

Conditions of fluidization:

Condition A: Particles starts to move.

Condition B: If further increase in velocity, the particles become separated though to move in
the bed and true fluidization begins at point BC once the bed is fluidized the pressure drop across
the bed remains constant.

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING SATHYABAMA UNIVERSITY

II YEAR / SEMESTER III SCH1203- FLUID MECHANICS UNIT – III

Prepared by : Dr. B.S. NAVEEN PRASAD

Minimum fluidization velocity:

It is obtained by settling the pressure drop across the bed equal to the weight of the bed per unit
area of cross section

----------------1

Applying minimum fluidization

-----------2

Substitute 2 in 1

------------3

W.K.T from Ergun’s equation

= +

Applying the above equation for minimum fluidization velocity

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING SATHYABAMA UNIVERSITY
II YEAR / SEMESTER III SCH1203- FLUID MECHANICS UNIT – III

Prepared by : Dr. B.S. NAVEEN PRASAD

= and

= + -------------5

Comparing equation 3 and 5

= + --------------6

For laminar flow viscous force will dominate and Reynolds number of particle is less than 1

Hence equation 6 becomes

= --------------7

For turbulent flow inertial flow will be dominating

= ------------8

Types of fluidization:

Particulate Fluidization:

When fluidizing sand in water the particles moves further apart and their motion becomes more
vigorous as the velocity increases, but the average bed density at a given velocity is same in all
sections of bed. This is called particulate fluidization. By assuming the flow between the
particles is laminar, By equation 6

= --------------9

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING SATHYABAMA UNIVERSITY

II YEAR / SEMESTER III SCH1203- FLUID MECHANICS UNIT – III

Prepared by : Dr. B.S. NAVEEN PRASAD

Bed expansion in particulate fluidization. Here is the independent variable and is

dependent variable as per equation 9 which predicts that is proportional to for values

greater than

The expanded bed time may be obtained from . The values of L and for minimum
fluidization velocity be using equation

L=

Aggregate or Bubbling fluidization:

Bed of solids fluidized with gas usually exhibits is called as aggregate or bubbling fluidization.

Gas flows through dense phase is assumed to be times the fractions of the bed occupied by
dense phase and rest of gas flow is to be carried by bubbles which is equal to

=fbub+(1-fb) --------------1

Where fb is the fraction of bed occupied by bubbles.

Vb is the average bubble velocity. Since all the solids is in the dense phase the height of the
expanded bed times, the fraction of the dense phase must be equal to the bed time height at
minimum fluidization of velocity.

=L(1-fb)

Fb=1- -----------2

Substitute 2 in 1

=(1- )ub+(1-fb)

When is much greater than , the bed expands only slightly even though may be
several times greater than
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING SATHYABAMA UNIVERSITY
II YEAR / SEMESTER III SCH1203- FLUID MECHANICS UNIT – III

Prepared by : Dr. B.S. NAVEEN PRASAD

Applications of fluidization:

It is used in petroleum industries for fluid bed catalytic cracking.

Catalytic process such as synthesis of acrylonitrile and solid gas reactions.

It is used in fluidized bed combustion.

It is used for roasting ores, drying time solids and adsorption of gases.

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING SATHYABAMA UNIVERSITY