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International Congress for Particle Technology

Proceedings
Session: 12
Internal Number: 046

Investigation of particle behaviour and turbulence modification in

particle laden channel flow

J.Kussin and M.Sommerfeld

Institut fr Verfahrenstechnik
Fachbereich Ingenieurwissenschaften
Martin-Luther-Universitt Halle Wittenberg
D-06099 Halle (Saale), Germany

Keywords: channel flow, gas- particle, wall collision, inter-particle collisions, turbulence modification

Introduction: Confined gas-solid flows are frequently found in industrial and chemical process technology. As a
result of the complex micro-physical phenomena affecting the particle motion, such as turbulent dispersion, wall
collisions, inter-particle collisions and flow modulation by the particles, a reliable numerical prediction is rather
sophisticated. An essential requirement are reliable experiments which may be used as a basis for model
development and refinement and additionally for the validation of the numerical calculations. A number of
experiments were performed in the past aiming at a detailed analysis of particulate flows in pipes and channels.
A very detailed set of experiments was also provided by Tsuji et al. (1982, 1984) for a gas-solid flow in a
horizontal and vertical pipe. In both experiments different types of polystyrene spheres (p = 1000 kg/m3 ) with
volume mean diameters of 0.243, 0.5, 1.42, 2.78 and 3.4 mm were used. The average air velocity was varied in
the range of 5 to about 20 m/s and the particle mass loading could exceed values of about 6 (kg particles)/(kg
air). For the measurement of the particle velocity and the air velocity in the presence of the particles laser-
Doppler anemometry was applied. In both cases the effect of particle size and mass loading on the streamwise
mean velocity profiles of the gas phase was analysed. Additionally, the papers provided detailed results on
turbulence modulation. For both cases also turbulence spectra of the gas phase in presence of the particles were
performed. It was clearly demonstrated, that large particles enhance turbulence considerably, however small
particles will damp turbulence. The data of Tsuji et al. (1982, 1984) were often used to characterise and
parameterise turbulence modulation in gas-solid flows (Gore and Crowe 1989).
Also Kulick et al. (1994) experimentally analysed a downward directed gas-solid flow in a channel of 40 mm
height using a centre-line gas velocity of about 10.5 m/s. The channel had a length of 5.2 m and a sophisticated
feeding system was used in order to insure a homogeneous dispersion of the particles. The particles used in the
experiment were Lycopodium ( p =300 kg/m3 , Dp = 30 m), glass beads (p = 2500 kg/m3 ) with a nominal
diameter of 50 and 90 m and copper beads ( p = 8800 kg/m3 ) with a nominal size of 70 m. The main objective
in this study was the analysis of turbulence modulation considering particle mass loadings up to about 0.5 (kg
particles)/(kg air). Unfortunately, the experiments were not done very carefully, since the upper part of the test
section consisted of coated wood plates, while a relatively short test section (length 635 mm) made of acrylic
glass was used. Hence, the particle motion was far from being developed, as the wall collision properties
completely change just above the measurement location. Since a channel flow is dominated by wall collisions
(Sommerfeld 2000) a change in wall material can drastically effect the results. The experimental results showed,
that in a downward flow, the particles move at a slower mean streamwise velocity as the gas flow which is
obviously not correct. The important effect of wall collisions was disregarded in the publication of Kulick et al.
(1994).
In extension of the experimental studies previously performed in different pipes (Huber & Sommerfeld, 1998)
the present measurements are related to a detailed analysis of a gas-solid flow in a horizontal channel by
considering also different wall roughness and varying the other parameters, such as: conveying velocity, particle
mass loading, particle mean diameter, and size distribution.

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International Congress for Particle Technology

Test Facility: The entire test facility is shown in Fig. 1. The main component of the test facility is a horizontal
channel of 6 m length which has a height of 35 and a width of 350 mm, so that almost two-dimensional flow
conditions can be established. The upper and lower channel walls were made of stainless steel plates which
could be exchanged in order to study the effect of wall material and wall roughness on the particle behaviour.
The measurements were performed close to end of the channel at a distance of 5.8 m from the entrance. In order
to allow optical access for the applied phase-Doppler anemometry (PDA), the side walls were made of glass
plates and a glass window of 35 by 460 mm was inserted at the top wall.
The required air flow rate was provide by two roots blowers mounted in parallel with nominal flow rates of 1002
m3 /h and 507 m3 /h, respectively. The blowers are connected with the test section using a 130 mm-pipe. Just prior
to the channel a mixing chamber for injecting the particles and a flow conditioning section where the cross-
section changes from circular to rectangular are mounted. Additionally, several sieves are inserted in this section
in order to ensure rather homogeneous flow conditions at the entrance of the channel. In a straight section of 2 m
before the mixing chamber a flow meter and temperature, humidity, and pressure sensors are installed.
For feeding the particle material into the mixing chamber a screw feeder (K-TRON,Type K2 MV S60) is used,
where the particle mass flow rate can be adjusted accordingly. In order to ensure a continuous particle feeding
the air is injected into the mixing chamber through a converging nozzle, whereby a lower pressure is established.
The resulting jet enters the exit pipe of the mixing chamber on the opposite side.
At the end of the channel a 90-bend is mounted which is connected to a flow passage where the cross-section
changes from rectangular to circular. A flexible pipe is used for conveying the gas-particle mixture to a cyclone
separator. The separated particles are re-injected into the reservoir of the particle feeder through a bucket wheel.
Finally, the air from the cyclone passes through a bag-filter in order to remove also very fine particles (i.e. the
tracer particles) and is released into the environment. The test facility described above allows for reach
conveying velocities of up to 30m/s and mass loadings up to 2(kg dust)//(kg air) could be established.

2
1
4 v

5 u Meassurement

Figure 1: Schematics of experimental facility (1= blower; 2= temperature and pressure reading, and pressure
regulation; 3= aero-cyclone; 4= particle and tracer feeder; 5= channel; 6= filter)

The particles used in the experiment were spherical glass beads with different mean diameter DP = 60, 100, 195,
625 and 1000m ( P = 2500 kg / m 3 ). For allowing simultaneous measurements of the air and particle
velocities, spherical tracer particles with a nominal size of 4m (Ballotini Type 5000) were added to the flow.
Hence, a discrimination between dispersed phase particles and tracer was possible using the method of Qiu et al
(1991). During the experiments stainless steel walls with two degrees of wall roughness were used. One plate
had a mean roughness height of 7m (R2) and in the other case a rather low roughness with a value of 4.3m
(R1), was considered see also: DIN 4768.

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International Congress for Particle Technology

Experimental results: The experimental results presented below will be discussed for different flow conditions
and emphasises the effects of wall roughness, inter- particle collisions and flow turbulence modulation by the
particles. The influence of particles on the vertical velocity profiles of air and particles for the horizontal
component is shown in Fig.2. With increasing mass loading the velocity profile of the air are flattening as a
result of two-way coupling. This is associated with the increase of momentum loss of the particles due to wall
collisions. With increasing mass loading the wall collision frequency is increasing and the required acceleration
of the particles by the air flow extracts momentum from the gas and eventually will increase pressure drop.

1.0 1.0
a) gas-phase b)
gas-phase

0.8 0.8

DP= 100m
D P= 60m
0.6 0.6 particle-phase
particle-phase

y/H
y/H

0.4 single phase 0.4 single phase

= 0,039 = 0,1
= 0,078 = 0,2
0.2 = 0,119 = 0,3
0.2
= 0,155 = 0,5
= 0,195 = 0,7
= 1,0
0.0 0.0
0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2
u/umean
u/umean

1.0 1.0
c) single phase
gas-phase d)
=1,00
=1,47
0.8 DP= 195m 0.8 =1,95
DP= 625m
solid-phase
solid-phase
0.6 0.6
gas-phase
y/H

y/H

0.4 0.4
single phase
=0,1
=0,3
0.2
=0,5 0.2
=0,7
=1,0
0.0 0.0
0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2
0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2
u/umean u/umean

Figure 2: Vertical profiles of air and particle velocity (horizontal component) for different mass loading and
particle diameters (average air velocity: 18.5m/s) high roughness (R2): a) DP = 60m, b) DP = 100m, c) DP =
195m; low roughness (R1) d) DP = 625m,

Since with increasing particle size the slip velocity is increasing (i.e. the particle inertia increases and velocity
decreases) also the momentum exchange between the phases increases and the reduction of the air velocity
becomes more pronounced. Additionally, the following effects have some influence on the particle mean
velocity. For the medium particle sizes considered (i.e. 100 and 195m), the motion becomes wall-collision
dominated. This implies that the particles will bounce from wall to wall. The motion of the small particles is
influenced by both turbulence and wall collisions. Hence, wall roughness results in a larger wall collision
frequency compared to the larger particles (Sommerfeld 2000). This will be associated with a higher momentum
and pressure loss (Huber & Sommerfeld 1998). In addition it should be noted, that the comparison in Figure 2 is
based on the mass loading and an increasing particle diameter for constant mass loading implies a strong
reduction in particle number density. This will eventually reduce the total number of wall collisions and decrease
the average momentum loss due to wall collisions. The change in particle velocity is rather low and is mainly
caused by the a lateral particle transport as will be demonstrated below.

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International Congress for Particle Technology

7 1.0
a) b)
6
Uslip= Umean Air-Umean Particle
0.8
Uslip, high roughness > Uslip,low roughness
5
single phase
0.6 Dp= 100m
4
(low roughness)

y/H
Uslip

Dp= 100m
3 (high roughness)
0.4
Dp= 195m
(low roughness)
2 Dp= 195m
=0,1 (625m =1)
0.2 (high roughness)
high roughness
1 low roughness

0 0.0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2
DP [m] u/umean

Figure 3a) Influence the wall roughness on the average slip velocity for different particle diameters; b) Influence
the wall roughness on the particle velocity profiles at different particle diameters

In the comparison of the particle velocity profiles, it is clear that the horizontal component of the particle
velocity will be reduced with increasing particle diameter. The effect of wall roughness on the particle slip
velocity is shown in Figure 3a for two different degrees of roughness. In this cases the slip velocity is obtained
by averaging across the entire profile of the horizontal velocity component. As one would expect, the slip
velocity increases with particle inertia and the degree of roughness. The latter is mainly caused by an increase in
wall collision frequency and the associated momentum loss for the particle phase. For completeness Figure 3b
shows particle velocity profiles for two particle sizes and different degree of roughness.
As demonstrated earlier (Sommerfeld 1992) wall roughness causes an enhancement of the particles fluctuating
motion and with increasing particle size this fluctuation is also increasing. This is demonstrated in Figure 4 by
comparing the profiles of the single phase fluctuating velocities with those of different particle sizes. Again one
may summarise the result by plotting the energy of the particle fluctuating motion

(
E P = 0. 5 u `P2 + v `P2 )
over the particle mass loading (Fig.5) or the particle diameter. These results support the following conclusions:
With increasing roughness the fluctuating energy of the particles increases drastically.
An increase of mass loading causes a decrease of fluctuating energy, since the fluctuating motion of
particles is damped by inter- particle collisions.
In the considered regime the particles fluctuating energy is increasing with particle diameter due to the
increasing tendency to bounce from wall to wall.
1.0 1.0
single phase
Dp= 60m, single phase
Dp= 100m, DP= 60m
0.8 0.8
Dp= 195m, DP= 100m
DP= 195m

0.6 0.6
y/H

y/H

0.4 0.4

0.2 0.2

0.0 0.0
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20
uRMS/umean vRMS/umean

Figure 4: Influence of the particle diameter on the profiles of particle fluctuating velocity; a) horizontal
component; b) vertical component

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International Congress for Particle Technology

7
Dp=195m a) 3.0 b)
6 high roughness mass load = 1
low roughness low roughness
2.5
5

4 2.0
EP

EP
3
1.5

2
1.0

1
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
DP
mass load

Figure 5: Change of energy of the particle fluctuating velocities by a) different mass loading and wall roughness
b) different mean particle diameter
1.0
a)
high roughness
0.8
low roughness

0.6
y/H

0.4

0.2

0.0
-0.03 -0.02 -0.01 0.00 0.01 0.02 0.03

v/umean

Figure 6: a) Profile of the mean vertical particle velocity for high and low roughness; b) Schematics of particle
motion before and after the wall collision in a channel.

A very interesting effect was observed from the vertical component of the mean particles velocity. Since the
flow is supposed to be fully developed, one expects this velocity component to be close to zero. However, in the
case of roughness the so-called shadow effect causes the particles to have positive and negative mean transverse
velocities near the lower and upper wall, respectively. This is caused by wall roughness, whereby the probability
of the particles to hit a lee-side of the roughness structure is higher and hence a momentum transfer from the
horizontal to the vertical component takes place (Fig.6). For the case of low roughness this effect is not visible
and the vertical particle velocity component is almost zero.

Next, the influence of the mean particle diameter, the mass loading, and the wall roughness on the distribution of
particle concentration shall be discussed. As an example the effect of increasing mass loading on the normalised
concentration profile is illustrated for the 100m particles in Figure 7. For a loading of 0.3 one can observe a
relative steady decay of concentration with increasing distance from the bottom. Because of the relative small
loading, particle collisions have only a small influence on the concentration distribution. Due to the action of
gravity most particles are moving near the bottom. With increasing mass loading the collision frequency is
increasing and hence also the dispersive effect of inter-particle collisions increases. This may be explained as
follows, particles moving towards the bottom wall of the channel will collide more frequently with particles
being rebound from the bottom wall. Hence these particles bounce back and will not be able to reach the bottom
wall. This resuls in an maximum of particle concentration in the region 0.2<y/H<0.4 (see Fig.7a). Simular
effects are observed for a decrease in particle diameter for a given mass loading, since the number density of

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International Congress for Particle Technology

particles is decreasing with particle size. Therefore, the size reduction is coupled with an increase of inter-
particle collision frequency and a shift of the concentration maximum from the bottom forwards the centre
(Fig.7b). At higher wall roughness the laternal dispersion of the particles will be considerably increased
(Sommerfeld 2000). Hence, for the 100m particles with a mass loading of =1.0, inter-particle collisions and
the effect of wall roughness cause an almost homogeneous dispersion of the particles across the channel.

1.0 1.0
DP=100m a) b)
low roughness =1.0
0.8
=0,3 0.8
low roughness
=0,7
DP= 100m
=1,0
0.6 DP= 195m
0.6
DP= 625m
y/H

high roughness

y/H
DP= 100m
0.4
0.4

0.2
0.2

0.0
0.0
0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5
0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5
normalize Concentration [counts/ccm/cmean]]
normalize Concentration [counts/ccm/cmean]]

Figure 7) particle concentration profiles in dependence of a) mass loading b) mean particle diameter and wall
roughness

Analysis of turbulence modulation: The mean velocity profiles of the gas phase revealed a slight flattering
with increasing mass loading as shown in Figure 2. It was also demonstrated that an increase in particle size
results in a stronger flattering of the mean gas velocity as a result of the stronger coupling between the phases
(i.e. increasing particle inertia and slip velocity). The reduction in the gas velocity gradient will result in a decay
of turbulence production with increasing particle size. This may be regarded as an indirect reduction of
turbulence. On the other hand, the particles may decay or augment turbulence as summarised by Gore & Crowe
(1989). Turbulence reduction is usually expected for smaller particles since they reduce the fluid phase
fluctuating energy due to their inertia. For large particles the slip Reynolds number may reach rather large values
so that wake separation and instabilities may enhance turbulence. The effects summarised above are also
observed in the present experiments (Fig. 8). For the smaller particles (i.e. 100m) turbulence reduction is
observed with increasing mass loading over the entire channel. For larger particles (i.e. 625 and 1000m) a clear
augmentation of air turbulence was found in the centre region of the channel (i.e. 0.2<y/H<0.7) , while closer to
the wall turbulence is decreased especially for the larger particles (Figure 8b). This may have two reasons. The
gradient in the air velocity profile near the wall is considerably reduced to give rise to a lower turbulence
production. Moreover, the particle slip Reynolds number is only high enough in the core region in order to
generate turbulence. An estimation for the 625mparticles showed that only for the region 0.2<y/H<0.8 the
particle Reynolds number is above 270, which is associated with strong pulsations of the gas circulating in the
wake and large vorticity being generated (Wasowski & Bla, 1987).

Moreover, Figure 8 reveals that the streamwise component of the particles fluctuating velocity is being reduced
with increasing mass loading. This effect causes the fluctuating motion of the particles to become more isotropic
due to inter-particle collisions (Sommerfeld, 1995). It should be noted that the measurements for the 625m
particles was performed for the low roughness case. For the very large particles (i.e. 1000m) it was not possible
to measure their velocity by PDA since the data rate dropped down to very low values.

Additionally, the influence of mass loading on the turbulence structure of the gas flow was analysed calculating
turbulence spectra (Nobach et al. 1998). Thereby the distribution of the turbulent kinetic energy in the frequency
range my be analysed. The turbulent energy corresponds to the integral over the whole frequency spectrum of
the fluctuation energy. In figure 8a) a case where the gas turbulence is decreasing over the entire channel is
illustrated, i.e. for the 100m particles.

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International Congress for Particle Technology

1.0 1.0
a) b)
gas-phase = 0,1
single phase
= 0,2 gas-phase
0.8 0.8 = 0,10
= 0,3
= 0,70
= 0,5
= 2,00
= 0,7
0.6 0.6
y/H

y/H
turbulence increasing

0.4 solid-phase 0.4

DP= 1000mm
DP= 100m
0.2 0.2

turbulence attenuation
0.0 0.0
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20
uRMS /umean u/umean

Figure 8: air and particle-fluctuating velocity (horizontal component), a) DP = 100m, b) DP = 1000m

The spectra reveal a distinct decay of the turbulent energy in the high frequency range, which implies that small
turbulent structures are diminishing. This effect agrees with the results of Squires & Eaton (1990) obtained by
direct numerical simulations in a homogeneous isotropic turbulence.

10
DP=100 m
1

0.1
rise = -5/3

0.01
E [m/s]

1E-3 = 0,00

= 0,10
= 0,31
1E-4
= 0,51

1E-5 = 0,71

1E-6
1 10 Frequency [1/s] 100 1000

10

DP= 1000 m
1

0.1 = 2,0 rise= -5/3

= 0,7

0.01 = 0,1
E [m /s]
2

1E-3

1E-4

1E-5

1E-6
1 10 Frequency [1/s] 100 1000

Figure 9: Turbulence spectra as a function of frequency for different mass loading: a) DP = 100m, b) DP =
1000m

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International Congress for Particle Technology

For the rather large particles with a diameter of 1000m a profound augmentation of turbulence in the core of
the channel was observed (Fig. 8b). This is also visible in the turbulence spectra, where an increase of the energy
with the loading ratio in the low frequency range occurs. In the high frequency range only a slight decrease is
found.

Conclusion: Detailed measurements on a gas-particle flow in a horizontal channel were presented for spherical
glass beads. The measurements of particle concentration and two velocity components (i.e. horizontal and
vertical) of both phases were performed simultaneously by phase-Doppler anemometry. For the first time, the
influence of the degree of wall roughness on the particle behaviour was analysed in detail. It was found, that wall
roughness enhances the wall collision frequency and decreases therefore particle mean velocity due to the
involved momentum loss during wall collision. Moreover, wall collisions enhance the fluctuating energy of the
particles and avoid a gravitational settling.
Inter-particle collisions also have a strong effect on the concentration distribution and particle velocity profiles.
It was found that a bulging of the concentration profiles occurs, since regions of high particle concentration are
being dispersed by collisions. This reduces eventually the particle concentration at the bottom of the channel. In
addition the fluctuation of the particles becomes more isotropic. Finally also flow and turbulence modification
was analysed. For the small particles considered a decay of turbulence was observed clearly, while an
augmentation occurred for 625 and 1000m particles in the core of the channel. These findings were also
supported by an estimation of turbulence spectra.
In the future, also the pressure drop in particle-laden channel flow will be measured in order to assess the
correlation between pressure drop and wall roughness and other wall collision properties.

References:
Huber, N and Sommerfeld, M.: 1998. Modelling and numerical calculation of dilute-phase pneumatic conveying
in pipe systems. Powder Technology 99, 90-101 .
Gore,R.A. & Crowe, C.T.: 1989. Effect of particle size on modulating turbulent intensity, Int. J.Multiphase Flow,
15, 279-285.
Kulick,J.D., Fessler,J.R. and Eaton, J.K.: 1994. Particle response and turbulence modifikation in fully developed
channel flow.J.Fluid Mech. 277, 109-134.
Nobach, H., Mller, E., Tropea, C.: 1998. Efficient estimation of power spectral density from LDA data Exp. in
Fluids 24, 499-509.
Qiu,H.H., Sommerfeld, M. and Durst, F.: 1991. High-resolution data processing for phase-Doppler mea-
surements in a complex two-phase flow, Measurement Sci. Technologie 2, 455-463.
Sommerfeld, M:1998. Modelling and numerical calculation of turbulent gas-solid flows with the Euler/Lagrange
approach. KONA Powder and Particle No.16, 194-206.
Sommerfeld,M.: 1995. The importance of inter-particle collisions in horizontal gas-solid channel flows, Gas-
Particle Flows, ASME Fluids Engineering Conference, Hiltons Head, USA, ASME, FED 228, 335-345.
Sommerfeld,M.: 2000. Theoretical and experimental modelling of particulate flow: Overview and fundamentals.
Von Karman Institute for Fluid Mechanics Lecture Series 2000-6, 1-62.
Squires, K.D., Eaton, J.K.: 1990. Particle response and turbulence modification in isotropic turbulence, Phys.
Fluids 7, 1191- 2003.
Tsuji, Y. and Morikawa, Y.: 1982. LDV measurements of an air-solid two-phase flow in a horizontal pipe.J.Fluid
Mech. 120, 385-409.
Tsuji, Y. and Morikawa, Y.: 1984. LDV measurements of an air-solid two-phase flow in a vertical pipe.J.Fluid
Mech.139, 417-434.
Wasowski,T. und Bla, E.: 1987. Wake- Phnomene hinter festen und fluiden Partikeln.Chem.-Ing.- Technik 59
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