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Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Particuology
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/partic

Experimental study and Shannon entropy analysis of pressure

fluctuations and flow mode transition in fluidized dense phase
pneumatic conveying of fly ash
Yassin Alkassar a,∗ , Vijay K. Agarwal a , R.K. Pandey b , Niranjana Behera c
a
Industrial Tribology, Machine Dynamic and Maintenance Engineering Centre, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi 110016, India
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi 110016, India
c
School of Mechanical Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology University, Vellore 632014, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The objective of this study was to relate experimental pressure fluctuation behavior to the transition in
Received 27 November 2018 mode of flow observed in fluidized dense phase pneumatic conveying of fly ash. Shannon entropy and
Received in revised form 11 March 2019 wavelet analysis were utilized to extract features of the flow regimes. Daubechies db4 wavelet analysis
Accepted 25 March 2019
of pulsating air pressure revealed that the flow mechanism of fly ash in a fluidized dense phase pos-
Available online xxx
sessed non-steady characteristics associated with gradual aeration of dunes along the direction of flow.
Variations of Shannon entropy values along the length of the pipeline were assessed to determine the
Keywords:
location at which the flow converted from dense to dilute phase mode. The effects of conveying parame-
Fluidized dense phase
Mode transition
ters and specific power consumption on Shannon entropy and variations of the local power consumption
Wavelet coefficient are discussed.
Shannon entropy © 2019 Chinese Society of Particuology and Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of
Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Introduction
Nomenclature
Conveyance of bulk materials using pneumatic conveying sys-
m* Solids loading ratio tems at low velocity is extensively utilized in various industries,
Sh Shannon entropy such as in power plants, chemical and food processing factories,
P(xi ) Probability of xi th component and mining. Flow modes of bulk materials during pneumatic con-
SPC Specific power consumption (kW/(kg/s)) veying can be categorized as dilute phase (suspension) flow and
Pin Pressure at inlet (Pa) dense phase (non-suspension) flow, based upon the quantity of air
Pout Pressure at outlet (Pa) and the pressure system. In dense phase flow, two modes of flow are
p Pressure drop (Pa) recognized: pulsatile moving bed flow (known as fluidized dense
ms Solids mass flow rate (kg/s) phase flow), in which bulk materials flow as dunes in a dense layer
V Volumetric air flow rate (m3 /s) moving along the bottom of a pipeline and as suspended parti-
V0 Volumetric flow rate of free air (m3 /s) cles in an upper dilute layer that flows over the dense layer; and
 Power consumption coefficient plug (or slug) flow, in which the bulk materials are conveyed as
loc Local air density (kg/m3 ) full-bore plugs separated by air pockets (Alkassar, Agarwal, Behera,
g Gravitational acceleration (m/s2 ) Jones, & Pandey, 2019). The focus of investigations and researches
L Length of segment of pipeline (m) has been shifted in the past decade from conveying bulk materi-
als in dilute phase flow at high velocity to dense phase flow at low
velocity. Dense phase flow offers a reduction in operational prob-
lems, such as wear and product attrition, and low specific power
consumption (Setia, Mallick, Pan, & Wypych, 2017), and therefore
enhances the life of pneumatic conveying pipelines. In addition,
dense phase flow raises the productivity of the conveying process.
∗ Corresponding author.
The mechanism of flow of bulk materials in fluidized dense phase
E-mail address: engyassin12@gmail.com (Y. Alkassar).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.partic.2019.03.003
1674-2001/© 2019 Chinese Society of Particuology and Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article in press as: Alkassar, Y., et al. Experimental study and Shannon entropy analysis of pres-
sure fluctuations and flow mode transition in fluidized dense phase pneumatic conveying of fly ash. Particuology (2019),
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.partic.2019.03.003
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pneumatic conveying is transient (Williams, Jones, & Cenna, 2008) entropy was applied to extract the significant information con-
and complex, involving highly turbulent air flow, particle–particle cerning the flow mechanism. An assessment of the flow patterns
collisions, and particle–wall/air interactions (Mittal, Setia, Mallick, of fine powder in fluidized dense phase flow was also carried out
& Wypych, 2015), which makes design of such systems and deter- by analyzing the variations of Shannon entropy values at different
mining the location of the transition from the dense to dilute phase locations along the flow direction. The effects of conveying param-
difficult. eters and power consumption on Shannon entropy are presented
Analyzing the behavior of bulk material in various flow patterns and discussed.
plays a significant role in better understanding the mechanism of
flow of gas–solid systems. Pressure fluctuations generated during
Experimental
conveying of such materials in fluidized dense phase pneumatic
systems can be quantified to understand the transient nature of the
Test procedure
flow. Pressure fluctuations are mainly due to the highly turbulent
nature of gas–solid flow (Mittal, Mallick, & Wypych, 2015). Charac-
Fly ash was used as the conveying material for conducting exper-
teristic information stored in fluctuating pressure signals provides
imental tests in different conveying modes (i.e., from dilute to dense
an alternate method for studying the flow pattern and under-
phases) through a 173 m long pipeline of 53 mm diameter. The
standing the flow mechanism in the conveying process. However,
experimental equipment consisted of a blow tank (conveying hop-
pressure-fluctuation data acquired from gas–solid flow represent
per), conveying pipeline, and receiver (storage hopper) fitted with
not only the phenomenology of flow, but also the influence of
a filter, as shown in Fig. 1. Conveying air from a compressor was
other sources that corrupted the signal. Such sources include noise
split into two lines: primary air was supplied to the blow tank to
from the transducer itself, the electronic circuit, and environmental
fluidize the bulk material and pressurize the blow tank; secondary
noise. The wavelet technique has the ability to deal with non-
air was used for conveying the bulk material. A system of two sonic
stationary signals and so provides a method for denoising the signal
nozzle arrays was used to provide air at a constant mass flow rate
(Alamolhoda, Zarghami, Sotudeh-Gharebagh, & Mostoufi, 2017).
to the primary and secondary pipelines. The blow tank was first
Researchers have used another method for analyzing pres-
filled with a certain amount of bulk material that was fluidized by
sure signals in gas–solid two-phase flow. Dynamic behavior of a
primary air that exited through the vent line. On completion of the
spouted-fluid bed has been studied by analyzing pressure fluctua-
fluidization process, the vent valve was closed, the data acquisition
tions using Shannon entropy (Zhong & Zhang, 2005). Heat transfer
system was turned on, and the blow tank pressurized to a certain
and temperature-difference fluctuations in a three-phase circulat-
level. Once pre-pressurization of the blow tank was achieved, the
ing fluidized bed were investigated by applying the concept of
pinch valve was opened and secondary air was supplied to start the
Shannon entropy (Cho, Kim, Nam, Kang, & Kim, 2001). An ongo-
conveying process. During the conveying operation, the bulk mate-
ing investigation into pressure-fluctuating signals captured in a
rials were transported along the pipeline in dilute or dense mode
fluidized dense phase pneumatic conveying system also examined
of flow, based on the air mass flow rate. At the end of the convey-
use of Shannon entropy. Mittal, Mallick et al. (2015) analyzed the
ing cycle, most of the bulk material was conveyed to the receiver
pulsating pressure signals generated in a fluidized dense phase to
and the data acquisition system was turned off. The material was
understand the flow mechanism using Shannon entropy. As the
returned to the blow tank by opening the valve located at the bot-
gas velocity increased along the length of the pipeline, flow became
tom of the receiver. The mass flow rates of bulk material from the
more turbulent and the Shannon entropy increased; however, there
blow tank to the receiver were measured via load cells.
was a decrease in the Shannon entropy when bulk material flowed
Pressure transmitters mounted on the primary and secondary
around a bend, due to roping phenomena. Mittal et al. (Mittal,
lines were used to measure the primary and the secondary air pres-
Mallick, & Wypych, 2014; Mittal, Setia et al., 2015) performed Shan-
sures, respectively, which were recorded via a 32-channel data
non entropy and standard deviation analyses to study the nature
acquisition system (SCXI-1102, National Instruments, USA). This
of flow patterns of fly ash and white powder in dense and dilute
system also collected data generated from pressure transmitters
phase flow. The amplitude and frequency of pressure peaks varied
mounted along the conveying line and the load cells signals. The
with change in solid loading ratios and conveying velocity ranges
signals were recorded at a sample rate of 100 Hz, which satisfied
for both materials. In addition, as the material flowed from inlet to
the Nyquist sampling frequency theorem. The pressure sensors
outlet, the standard deviation and Shannon entropy increased for
were calibrated using Barnett deadweight instruments; load cells
both materials due to a rise in flow velocity, and hence increased
were calibrated using known loads. The experimental tests were
the disorder of the pressure–time series. Shijo and Behera (2017)
performed over solids loading ratios ranging from 12 to 50 and
studied the variation of Shannon entropy in a fluidized dense phase
superficial inlet air velocities of 3–12 m/s. The solids loading ratio
to observe the mode of flow in a pipeline. Shannon entropy values
(m*) is defined as the ratio of mass flow rate of bulk material to mass
increased as the material flowed in the dense phase due to gradual
flow rate of air used for conveying the material. In pneumatic con-
aeration of the bed of material; when the flow became dilute, the
veying, this is a useful parameter to assist in visualizing the nature
values decreased. Goel, Mittal, Mallick, and Sharma (2016) studied
of flow (dense or dilute phase flow).
the effects of conveying parameters and different pipeline geome-
The fly ash had properties as follows: mean particle diameter:
tries on Shannon entropy values. Shannon entropy increased along
14.91 ␮m; particle density: 2096 kg/m3 ; loose-poured bulk den-
the direction of flow and presented high values at low- and high-
sity: 724 kg/m3 . Table 1 presents the particle size distribution of
flow velocity ranges. The values were low at mid ranges of velocity,
the conveyed material. It belonged to Geldart A type material that
indicating stability of flow.
is transported in a fluidized dense phase, as described in the Gel-
In consideration of the above investigations, Shannon entropy
dart fluidization chart (Jones & Williams, 2008). It also had good
analysis can be utilized to describe flow regimes in fluidized dense
aeration properties.
phase pneumatic conveying. Most studies have analyzed pressure-
fluctuations signals in shorter pipelines for a limited number of
bulk materials. The objective of this work was to study the transient Test analysis
characteristics of fine powder in fluidized dense phase pneumatic
conveying using Shannon entropy. Wavelet analysis was carried Fig. 2 shows the typical conveying cycle of fly ash in fluidized
out to denoise the pressure-fluctuation signal, and then Shannon dense phase pneumatic conveying. It comprises three periods. The

Please cite this article in press as: Alkassar, Y., et al. Experimental study and Shannon entropy analysis of pres-
sure fluctuations and flow mode transition in fluidized dense phase pneumatic conveying of fly ash. Particuology (2019),
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.partic.2019.03.003
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Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of pneumatic conveying setup.

Table 1 the receiver then occurred, which was associated with a stable
Particle size distribution of conveyed material.
pressure, representing the steady-state period. At the end of the
dp i (␮m) % vol conveying cycle, the feeder was emptied of bulk material, which
5 17.81 was characterized by significant fluctuations in pressure drop, rep-
7.5 11 resenting the emptying period.
10 8.42 The pressure of the blow tank, air mass flow rates, solid mass
20 21.75 flow rates, and pressures at different locations along the direction of
30 11.47
flow were monitored and analyzed during the steady-state period.
40 6.79
60 9.15
100 7.47 Pressure-fluctuation signal analysis
210 6.14
The pressure signals acquired during the conveying process con-
tained some noise, which decreased the accuracy of predicting the
flow pattern. To study the characteristic information stored in the
fluctuating pressure signals, the signals should first be denoised. In
pneumatic conveying, the significant information mainly exists in
low-frequency pressure fluctuations (Pahk & Klinzing, 2008), while
noise occurs in the high-frequency bands (Cai, Pan, Chen, & Zhao,
2012). The wavelet technique has been extensively utilized to elim-
inate the unwanted component (i.e., noise) from pulsating pressure
signals generated in fluidized dense phase pneumatic conveying
(Behera, Agarwal, Jones, & Williams, 2012). In wavelet transform,
a signal is synthesized by an aggregate of dilation (scale) and
translation operations on a mother wavelet. Discrete wavelet trans-
form (DWT) is an application of wavelet transform using different
Fig. 2. Conveying cycle of fluidized dense phase pneumatic conveying.
scales to extract information that represents high-frequency (detail
coefficients) and low-frequency (approximation coefficients) vari-
pre-pressurization period represents the time for which the bulk ability. In DWT-based denoising, the pressure signal passes through
material was pressurized within the blow tank to a particular level. three stages of denoising: (i) decomposition, in which the noisy
When the pinch valve was opened, there was a surge in bulk mate- signal passes through a pair of digital filters to break it up into high-
rial at the start of the conveying process, which was associated scale components (low frequency), which generate approximate
with a sudden reduction in pressure from the pre-pressurized value coefficients A, and low-scale components (high frequency), which
of blow tank. Stable conveying of fly ash from the blow tank to generate detail coefficients D; (ii) thresholding, in which a thresh-

Please cite this article in press as: Alkassar, Y., et al. Experimental study and Shannon entropy analysis of pres-
sure fluctuations and flow mode transition in fluidized dense phase pneumatic conveying of fly ash. Particuology (2019),
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Fig. 3. Decomposition of pulsating pressure signal into four levels using db4 wavelet.

Fig. 4. Pressure signal denoising using discrete wavelet transform.

old value is applied to D coefficients at each level of decomposition;
(iii) reconstruction of a denoised signal from wavelet coefficients
is carried out by applying the inverse discrete wavelet transform
(IDWT).
In the present work, Daubechies fourth-order mother wavelet
(db4) was employed for analyzing the transient pressure signals.
The noisy signal was decomposed into four levels of different scale
coefficients. Fig. 3 shows the noisy signal generated in the fluidized
dense phase s, the fourth level of approximate signal a4, and details
signals based on wavelet analysis. Of the third and fourth levels of
decomposition, the fourth had the least error compared with the
original signal after reconstruction and therefore, db4 with four
levels was adopted in this study.
The denoising process of the transient pressure signal described
above is displayed in Fig. 4. The noisy signal was decomposed up to
four levels by applying DTW, which produced detail and approxi-
mate coefficients. Noise was eliminated by thresholding of the DTW
coefficients up to the fourth level. The denoised signal was recon-
structed by performing IDWT. Fig. 5 shows a comparison between
the raw (i.e., signal with noise) and denoised signals of a pulsating
pressure. Some reduction in coarseness of signal was obtained that
made the analysis of the denoised signal more accurate.

Please cite this article in press as: Alkassar, Y., et al. Experimental study and Shannon entropy analysis of pres-
sure fluctuations and flow mode transition in fluidized dense phase pneumatic conveying of fly ash. Particuology (2019),
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Fig. 5. Comparison between noisy and denoised transient pressure signals. Fig. 6. Pressure fluctuation behavior at transmitter T1 for different flow conditions.

Pressure-fluctuation analysis using Shannon entropy

Shannon entropy analysis

Shannon (1948) proposed the concept of Shannon entropy,

which is used to estimate the information gererated in a stochastic
source. The degree of uncertainty in a system can be predicted using
Shannon entropy. The transience of an event from order to chaos
is indicated by a rise in thermodynamic entropy (Shijo & Behera,
2017); therefore, an increment in Shannon entropy (and thermo-
dynamic entropy) can be utilized to indicate a change in the event
from order to chaos.
High values of Shannon entropy of a pressure–time series Fig. 7. Pressure fluctuation behavior at transmitter T6 for different flow conditions.
acquired in gas–solid flow, and hence high disorder and complex-
ity in this system, occur due to higher turbulence of the air, and
sliding, rolling, and collisions of particles against particles, walls, or
air resulting from the random and complex nature of the flow. The
pressure signal X(t) after performing wavelet-based denoising (i.e.,
the denoised pressure signal) is written as series of finite numbers,
X = {x1 , x2 , . . ., xn }. Shannon entropy of the pressure–time series
generated in pneumatic conveying is calculated using the following
equation:

n
Sh (x) = − P (xi ) logb P (xi ) , (1)
i=1

where n is the number of data set in the series. When b is equal

to 2, e, or 10, the units of Shannon entropy are bits, nat, or harts,
respectively. In this paper, the value of b = 2 was used, and hence
the unit of Shannon entropy is bits.
The probability of any value of x in the pressure–time series is
given as follows:
P (xi ) = xi /n.
The property of probability satisfies the following equation:
n
P (xi ) = 1.
i=1
MATLAB code was written by the authors to filter the pressure
signals by applying wavelet analysis and then calculate the Shan-
non entropy value. The calculated Shannon entropy values were
analyzed to study the behavior of pressure fluctuations along the
length of the conveying pipeline. For this purpose, three pressure
transmitters were mounted on the top of the pipeline at different
distances from the inlet (T1 at 29.29 m; T6 at 100.42 m; and T7 at
129.11 m), as seen in Fig. 1, to investigate the changes in the mode
of flow. Three different cases of experimental data considered for
the conveying of fly ash are presented in Table 2.
The flow of fine powders in a fluidized dense phase may not
continue in the same mode in a conventional pipeline. Dense phase
flow may convert to dilute phase flow or not, based on the extent
Fig. 8. Pressure fluctuation behavior at transmitter T7 for different flow conditions.
of expansion of air; however, once the mode of flow has transi-
tioned, it will not convert back to the original mode unless a stepped
pipeline is provided at the location of transition. In contrast, if the
(2) flow of fine powder starts with dilute phase flow, it will continue
in this mode unless a stepped pipeline is provided.
This study considered that the flow of fly ash occurred in dense-
phase flow when the superficial gas velocity was less than 12 m/s;
(3) the fly ash was conveyed in dilute-phase flow when the superficial
gas velocity exceeded 12 m/s.
Pulsating pressure behavior along direction of flow
Figs. 6, 7, and 8 show the behavior of pulsating pressure sig-
nals during a steady-state period of the conveying cycle at different
locations along the conveying pipeline for various flow conditions
(dense to dilute phases). The fluctuations of pressure signals show
that the flow of bulk material in the moving bed was pulsating
and transient in nature, indicated by various pulses (i.e., peaks and
valleys) in the signals. The features of the pulsating pressure sig-
nals were dependent on the locations of the pressure transmitters
along the direction of flow, as well as on the air and solid mass
flow rates. The fluctuation behavior of the pressure signals con-

Please cite this article in press as: Alkassar, Y., et al. Experimental study and Shannon entropy analysis of pres-
sure fluctuations and flow mode transition in fluidized dense phase pneumatic conveying of fly ash. Particuology (2019),
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Table 2
Experimental data for different flow conditions of fly ash.
Case No Solid loading ratio, m* Inlet air velocity, Ug (m/s)
1 34.9 4.6
2 27.5 5.6
3 16.5 8.9
Fig. 9. Changes of Shannon entropy values along the length of conveying pipeline.
tained significant information about the flow of bulk material in
the fluidized dense phase. In this study, the wavelet technique and
Shannon entropy were utilized to obtain parameters to quantita-
tively demonstrate flow stability and flow patterns.
Results and discussion
This section provides results of analyses of Shannon entropy
and wavelet analysis in fluidized dense-phase pneumatic convey-
ing. Prior research has shown the importance of undertaking such
analyses (Behera, Agarwal, & Jones, 2015). Many authors have con-
sidered time-averaged or steady-state values of various parameters
in modelling and analyzing the performance of fluidized dense
phase pneumatic conveying systems. The predicted results pro-
vided by adopting such parameters proved to be inaccurate when
compared with data collected from actual plants. These approaches
paid little attention to understanding pressure fluctuations and the
transient nature of the flow. In this work, transient pressure fea-
tures were studied and analyzed by the Shannon entropy approach,
which provides more information on pressure fluctuations and
flow transitions. Determination of the location of the transition
in the mode of flow was carried out by analyzing the Shannon
entropy values along the direction of flow. This location is con-
sidered significant in the design of pneumatic conveying with an
incrementing pipe diameter (stepped piping) to avoid converting to
the dilute phase and the problems of this phase. Performance of any
pneumatic conveying system is evaluated by the power consump-
tion required for transporting the materials, so the relationships
between transient features represented by Shannon entropy and
power consumption were determined for different flow modes.
Variation of Shannon entropy along direction of flow
Fig. 9 shows changes of Shannon entropy along the direction
of the flow of fly ash. In the case of dense phase flow, Case 1, the
Please cite this article in press as: Alkassar, Y., et al. Experimental study and Shannon entropy analysis of pressure
fluctuations and flow mode transition in fluidized dense phase pneumatic conveying of fly ash. Particuology (2019),
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.partic.2019.03.003
Air velocity (m/s) Remark
at T1 at T6 at T7
5.73 8.7 10.5 Case 1 represents the flow of fly ash in
fluidized dense phase without a change in the
mode of flow along the length of the pipeline.
6.82 10.5 13 Case 2 represents the flow of fly ash in
fluidized dense phase with a change in the
mode of flow along the length of the pipeline.
10.8 15.3 18.1 Case 3 represents the flow of fly ash in partially
dilute flow at the inlet of the pipeline.
Shannon entropy gradually increased as the fly ash flowed from
beginning to end of the pipeline, indicating no change in the mode
of flow. The reason for such a rise along the pipeline is because air
continuously penetrated the solid layer and fluidized the dunes.
Fluidization of the bed of material increased the air–particle inter-
actions and hence increased the complexity and randomness of the
pressure signal.
For low dense phase flow, as in Case 2, Shannon entropy
increased up to a specific location of 100 m and then decreased.
This indicated that the fly ash started to flow in dense phase
mode at the beginning of the pipeline and remained in this mode
for the first 100 m, after which the flow started changing from
dense to dilute phase. The reason for the increase in the Shannon
entropy prior to the 100 m distance is because the air gradu-
ally percolated through dunes and supported the solid layer in a
fluidized state. However, as the superficial air velocity increased
downstream of the flow, and there was a corresponding increase
in its kinetic energy, the particles tended to become entrained
in the air flow, suspended from the surface of the bed, and the
signal fluctuations reduced due to damping of air turbulence.
This was confirmed by experimental values of velocity at the
second and third locations measured as 10.5 and 13 m/s, respec-
tively.
With flow of fly ash in the dilute phase, such as Case 3, the Shan-
non entropy reduced until a distance of 100 m and then increased
with increase in distance from the inlet. The decrease in Shannon
entropy in the first region is because the particles were drawn from
the bed and suspended into the flow stream, which resulted in a
decrease in the turbulence of air flow and, hence, a reduction in the
irregularities of the pressure–time signal. However, the Shannon
entropy increased in the second region because the flow became
fully suspended (i.e., homogeneous) and particle–air interactions
were enhanced.
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Fig. 10. Changes of Shannon entropy before and after a bend.

Fig. 11. Changes of Shannon entropy for different superficial air velocities.

Analysis of Shannon entropy along and after the bend
The analyses of Shannon entropy before and after the bend were
investigated for different flow conditions to study the effect of the
bend in the direction of flow on pressure fluctuations. Fig. 10 shows
the variation of Shannon entropy along the direction of flow. The
entropy values increased as fly ash was conveyed from the blow
tank to the receiver in the case of dense phase flow (m* = 30.4), indi-
cating no change in mode of flow. With regard to less dense phase
flows (m* = 24.3 and 20.7), the Shannon entropy values increased
from the inlet to the location of transmitter T7 and then decreased,
indicating a change in the mode of flow. However, the Shannon
entropy decreased when the fly ash flowed around the bend. The
reason for such a decrease was the reduction in the momentum of
particles at the bend due to centrifugal forces, and hence a reduction
in turbulence and fluctuations.
at low velocities is that particles tended to settle at the bottom
of the pipeline and form unsteady dunes in dense phase flow. In
addition, at low velocity, there were more contacts and collisions
between particles, which resulted in a sudden increase in disorder
of the pressure signal. In the medium-velocity range (higher kinetic
energy of air), air penetrated the bed of material and fluidized the
dunes, which produced a stable flow of materials in the conveying
pipeline and reduced fluctuation of the pressure signal; however,
at high conveying velocities, irregular interactions between parti-
cles and air increased, which was indicated by a rise in Shannon
entropy values. The influence of superficial air velocity on the flow
characteristics in the high-velocity range was less than its effect at
low velocity, resulting in higher values of Shannon entropy at low
velocity.
Effect of solid mass flow rate on Shannon entropy

Effect of superficial air velocity on Shannon entropy
Fig. 11 shows variations of Shannon entropy values with dif-
ferent superficial air velocities at the location of transmitter T1 for
three mass flow rates. The Shannon entropy values (3.37–3.9 bits) at
low velocity (4–6 m/s) were high compared with those at medium-
and high-velocity ranges. In addition, the lowest values of Shannon
entropy (2.94–3.23 bits) occurred at medium velocities (7–9 m/s),
while the values (3.15–3.51 bits) at high velocity (10–12 m/s) were
located between those of the low- and medium-velocity ranges.
The reason for the occurrence of high values of Shannon entropy
Fig. 12 shows the variation of Shannon entropy values along
the length of the pipeline for dense phase flow at different solid
mass flow rates. The Shannon entropy increased with a rise in the
solid mass flow rate. By increasing the solid mass flow rates, higher
frequencies of particle–particle collisions and interactions with the
wall occurred, both of which resulted in higher uncertainty of pres-
sure fluctuations, indicated by higher values of Shannon entropy.
Furthermore, the solid concentration of the bulk material plays a
significant role in the expansion and collapse of the bed during con-
veying: at a high mass flow rate, the bed expansion was less, which
resulted in instability of flow and fluctuations of pressure drop.

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fluctuations and flow mode transition in fluidized dense phase pneumatic conveying of fly ash. Particuology (2019),
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Fig. 12. Variation in Shannon entropy along the pipeline for different solid mass flow rates.

Fig. 13. Variation in Shannon entropy with solids loading ratio.

Effect of solids loading ratio on Shannon entropy
Fig. 13 presents the changes in Shannon entropy with an
increase in solids loading ratio. With an increase in solid loading
ratios, the Shannon entropy reduced up to a particular value and
then increased with further increase in solid loading ratios. At low
solids loading ratio or high air mass flow rate, the air turbulence and
particle–air interactions increased, and there was hence an increase
in fluctuations of the pressure signal, which was indicated by higher
values of Shannon entropy. Adding material to a high-velocity gas
will reduce gas turbulence, making the flow more smooth and
stable, and hence reduce the Shannon entropy; however, at high
solid loading ratios, disorder and fluctuations of the pressure sig-
nal are enhanced due to occurrence of more particle–particle and
particle–wall interactions, which result in a rise in Shannon entropy
values. Adding more amount of material to the air flow leads to
material deposition at the bottom of the pipeline and formation of
unstable dunes.
Analysis of power consumption
Effect of specific power consumption on Shannon entropy
Specific power consumption, which is the power required to
transport material per unit mass, provides a means to compare dif-
ferent modes of conveying. Specific power consumption is given
as follows for the isothermal model (Behera, Agarwal, Jones, &
Williams, 2011):
The above analysis shows that high values of Shannon entropy
occurred when the fly ash was in either dense or dilute phase
flow. Dense phase flow exhibited lower specific power consump-
tion compared with dilute phase flow due to the lower conveying
air velocity. Fig. 14 shows that at lower specific power consump-
tions (dense phase flow), high values of Shannon entropy occurred.
These values also occurred at high specific power consumptions
for dilute phase flow. In case of dense phase flow, the bed expan-
sion was small, which increased the signal disorder due to a rise in
interparticle interactions. Contrarily, the bed expansion was con-
siderable at a low solids loading ratio, which increased the Shannon
entropy values due to a boost in air–particle interactions.
Variation of power consumption coefficient along the pipeline
To determine whether there was any correlation between
steady-state and transient parameters, the variations of Shannon
entropy (Fig. 9) and power consumption coefficient were ana-
lyzed. Power consumption coefficient is a steady-state parameter
expressed by the following equation:
p V p
= = . (5)
ms gL m* loc gL
Three segments of pipeline, each of 2 m length, at three different
positions (p(T 1 −T2) at 27 m, p(T 5 −T6) at 100.42 m, and p(T 7 −T8)
at 129.11 m) along the direction of flow were considered. The
variations of power consumption coefficient along the length of

1
p  conveying pipeline are presented in Fig. 15.
SPC = 202Vo ln in
. (4) In the case of dense phase flow without a change in mode of
ms pout flow (Case 1), Fig. 9 shows that the Shannon entropy increased as

Please cite this article in press as: Alkassar, Y., et al. Experimental study and Shannon entropy analysis of pres-
sure fluctuations and flow mode transition in fluidized dense phase pneumatic conveying of fly ash. Particuology (2019),
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.partic.2019.03.003
G Model
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Fig. 14. Variation of Shannon entropy with specific power consumption.

Fig. 15. Variation of power consumption coefficient along the length of the pipeline.

the fly ash proceeded from inlet to outlet. This corresponded to an
increase in a local power consumption coefficient along the length
of pipeline, as shown in Fig. 15. For the case of dense phase flow
with change in mode of flow beyond 100 m (Case 2), the Shannon
entropy and local power consumption coefficient increased up to
a specific location and then reduced. With regard to flow of fly ash
in the dilute phase (Case 3), the local power consumption coeffi-
cient decreased along the pipeline because the flow became more
homogenous.
Conclusions
Pressure-fluctuation behavior was analyzed to study the char-
acteristics of mode of flow of fly ash in fluidized dense phase
pneumatic conveying, using wavelet analysis and Shannon entropy.
Wavelet analysis of pressure-fluctuation signals showed that the
flow of fly ash was pulsating and transient in nature, rather than
at steady state. Location of the transition in mode was evaluated
by analyzing the variation of Shannon entropy along the pipeline.
The dense phase dominated by increasing the Shannon entropy val-
ues along the direction of flow, which caused a rise in the disorder
of the pressure signal. A decreasing trend in the values of Shan-
non entropy was observed when dilute flow dominated because
of the damping of turbulence of flow by suspended particles in
the conveying air. In addition, the Shannon entropy decreased
when the material flowed around a bend because of a reduction in
momentum of particles that were subjected to a centrifugal force.
Conveying fly ash at low superficial velocities resulted in high val-
ues of Shannon entropy due to the occurrence of high randomness
in the pressure signal, caused by the formation of unstable dunes
at the bottom of the pipeline. Stability of flow dunes occurred dur-
ing the conveying of fly ash in medium-velocity ranges due to
fluidization of the bed of material, which led to lower Shannon
entropy. High Shannon entropy also occurred during the conveying
of fly ash at high superficial velocities because irregular interactions
between particles and air increased. An increase in solid mass flow
rate caused a higher frequency of particle collisions and interac-
tions with the wall, which led to high values of Shannon entropy.
These were also observed at high solid loading ratios. High values of
Shannon entropy were obtained at low solid loading ratios due to
the turbulent effect of air and high intensity of particle–air inter-
actions, which decreased with an increase in solid loading ratio.
In addition, high or low bed expansions, which corresponded to
high or low specific power consumption, respectively, caused a rise
in uncertainty of pressure fluctuations, and therefore in Shannon
entropy. An increase or decrease in the transient parameter (i.e.,
Shannon entropy) was accompanied by an increase or decrease in
the steady-state parameter (i.e., power consumption coefficient),
respectively, indicating a correlation between these parameters.
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Please cite this article in press as: Alkassar, Y., et al. Experimental study and Shannon entropy analysis of pres-
sure fluctuations and flow mode transition in fluidized dense phase pneumatic conveying of fly ash. Particuology (2019),
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.partic.2019.03.003
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Please cite this article in press as: Alkassar, Y., et al. Experimental study and Shannon entropy analysis of pres-
sure fluctuations and flow mode transition in fluidized dense phase pneumatic conveying of fly ash. Particuology (2019),
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.partic.2019.03.003