Stokes Law and the Idea of Terminal velocity

For Laminar flow, there are three forces that can be calculated to act
On a solid sphere moving vertically through a fluid.

Form Drag Friction Drag

4
R g
3
Gravity
3
Or Buoyancy

Form Drag 2 R v t

4 R v t
Friction Drag Gravity
 Falling sphere with velocity Vt

Form Drag Friction Drag

4
3
R g
3
4 R v t 2 R v t
solid fluid

2 2 g
Gravity vt R
9

Motionless Sphere in Moving Fluid

What Happens if Vfluid>Vt? Fluid velocity=Vt

Gravity
 Stokes Law for Turbulent and Laminar Flow

d V FluidRelativeToSphere
Re sphere

Laminar Turbulent when Re>0.1 to 1

24
As the pressure exceedsf1 Re
that
sphere Re for minimum
required fluidization,
when Resphere 1 a second empirical equation is
necessary to describe the relationshipsphere between Ga and Resphere and pore fraction, , given as
18.5
4.7
f2 Resphere 3
when 1 Resphere 500
1.687
Ga 18 Resphere 2.7 Resphere
5
Resphere
As the increasing fluid velocities are considered, the fluid velocity eventually reaches the term
velocity of the particles and blows the particles out of the bed. This process is referred to as
f3 Re sphere is
5
'elutriation', where the terminal velocity 0.44 when 500 by
described Resphere 2 10 equation
the familiar

vt

4 d s g


2

3 f
where f is the friction factor. The friction factor will have three ranges of dependence on the Re