Application of penetration method to evaluation of non-uniformity of particle bed structure

Based on the fluid penetration, an evaluation method of the non-uniformity of a particle bed structure was developed. The newly developed apparatus has a cubic sample box that can be set at any direction. Pressure drops through the packed bed in the same direction as the packing direction and the cross direction of that were measured in the apparatus. It was found that the fluid penetration resistance in gravitational direction (=packing direction) was higher than that in cross direction to gravity. The differences between them depend on the particle size and shape. In order to represent the differences as the apparent alignment of packed bed structure, the experiments using the model packed bed constructed by uniform circular bars having a diameter of 4mm were conducted. Through the experiments, correlation between aligned angle and the ratio of specific surface area of the cross direction to that in the gravitational direction was obtained. By means of the correlation, the non-uniformity of the packed bed structure can be evaluated as the apparent aligned angle.