Powder discharge from a hopper-standpipe system modelled with CPFD

In this paper, computational particle fluid dynamic (CPFD) modelling approach was used to describe the discharge of a fine glass beads powder from different hopper-standpipe geometries. The comparison between the CPFD predictions and the experimental results in terms of solid discharge rates, surface cone shape during discharge and pressure drops in the standpipe. The comparison allowed to assess on the possibility to use the CPFD modelling approach to simulate the powder flow in the hopper-standpipe system even accounting for the rather complex interactions between the interstitial gas and the particles occurring in the presence of a standpipe. Furthermore, the effect of hopper geometry on powder discharge was investigated with the CPFD model and verified experimentally in some purposely built hoppers. Finally, the relationships between the hopper geometry parameters (hopper outlet diameter and hopper half angle) and the flow parameters (solid discharge rate, height of characteristic surface, particle volume fraction, particle velocity, gas pressure and flow pattern) were obtained.