10 ‘THE PLUIDISED STATE corresponding quantities f and Re’ for a packed bed of spheres. The friction factor fis derived from cy, and Re’ from Re by finding dyin terms of the packing geometry, and t, in terms of U, the superficial velocity through the packing. "ig. 5 shows the passage equivalent to the spaces within the particles contained in a volume having length Lin the direction of flow, and unit cross-section normal to this direction. The passage is inclined at angle A to the direction of the mean flow, and its cross- sectional area is A,,, and the perimeter of that cross-section is . The Uy Pressure gradient snd mean flow Flow direction Passage sree Aw Length Ljeos 4 Fig. 5. Inclined passage having the same flow resistance as s packed bed. volume of the passage, LA,/cos A, is equal to the void volume Le within the packed volume, so that = A,[00s A. (13) ‘The hydraulic mean diameter of the passage is 44,/J; now the surface area of the passage wall, Li/cos A is assumed equal to the surface area of the particles La, a being the surface area per unit packed volume. Therefore, using (1.3), the hydraulic mean diameter of the passage is dy (1-4) and this is taken as the hydraulic mean diameter of the spaces between the packing,THE INCIPIENT FLUIDISING VELOCITY Uy at + ‘The flow within the passage shown in fig. § is uy, = U, where Vis the superficial velocity through the packing and therefore the volume flow-rate through unit cross-section of packing; using 1.3), this equation becomes L cos A" tn (15) ‘The flow is caused by the pressure gradient Ap/E acting in the direction shown in fig. s, Ap being the pressure difference across length L of packing. The pressure gradient causes a mean shear stress 79 to act on the passage walls, and since their area is Ll/cos A, a bbdgene | Specond «6 using (1.4). Substituting from (1.5) and (1.6) into (1.1) then gives the friction coefficient for the packing, Ap (eos? 0 a= Fo (P4) 7) Similarly, substituting from (1.4) and (1.5) into (1.2) gives the Reynolds number for the packing, 00 (_4 Rea (eka) (8) For low Reynolds numbers, the Poiscuille equation for streamli flow in a pipe is cy = 16/Re (Prandtl, 1952, p. 98), and therefore substituting from (1.7) and (1.8) we should expect that Ap 2nUa? 2 Bech: 9) In particular, for a bed of spheres containing N spheres, of diameter 4, per unit volume, @ = m@2N and 1~e = {Nad giving ' a= 6(r-e/d. (1.10) Hence fiom (1.9) apf aa ]yutite-of $-[Fa as (ur) For spheres, Carman (1956, p. 14) gives values between 162 and 184 for the square-bracketed term in (1.11), so that Ais between 48° and 51°, which are reasonable values for the average inclination between the fluid streamlines and the direction of mean flow.