Investigation of the effect of particle size distribution on the flow properties of bulk solids

This paper reports from a Defra sponsored project which aims to develop a toolkit that can be used
by formulators to assist in controlling the flow properties of blended or engineered powders. This
paper presents the results of an investigation into the effect of the breadth of the size distribution
on the cohesive strength, bulk density and void fraction of a range of bulk solids. The results are
compared to semi-empirical models for predicting the voidage based on mono-sized spheres.
Modelling approaches for dealing with the effect of size distribution are presented and discussed.