Flow Past lasad Badku

e prevus chapters were concerued primarily with the laws

vekocity ot thuids flowing past solid boundaries and was espciallytlow and factors that
centered with flow
control changes ot prts
annels
Eany PrOblems, however, the flow of luids outside immersed bodies appears in many through closed pipcS a
ad other chemical engineerngg app**
processing applications
Flow past immersed
objects
bousdary ayes

A
stagmation EpraiKa
POmt

c
Foon S-1. Fio pax tTSwd sdjiects: faj r piate, {b) spherr, fc) sremined
olje.
Drag and Drag Coefficient:
Skin r HWall drag - the force exerted by t e îtuid on the solid in the directioa of tlowv

Ferve drg- additionai frictiona! iosses that oczus if the iluid is ot flowing parallel to the susface bi
ast atange drections to pass ared a soid body uch as a spBere

F STesind us sdangh pies in chauneks:

Friction fartor,f defined as the ratio of the ste3s saress to the proxuca ar the veocity head and deasity

je pass immersed soids:

Drag coefficient, Ca is defined as the ratio of the total dray force pes unit area to the proxduct of the velociny head
ad density
where: F = dray force
Where Ca FpAp
2g. Approjected area
area obtained by projecting the body on a
plaue pexpedicular to tte line of flow
velocay ofthe approaching streasm

is keRNy io specjy iie size uni gerunen ic

Niote: For pesiickes hning sinpes vtier sizur sypferici, n
with Tesypeci o ile stirection offlow
orn oj iBhe boxds aaui its orientaen

coefficienn of a seoth solhd in an incompressible fluid depends upon a Reynolds

Tom damensional analysis, the drag
amber ancd the necessary shape ratios.

wiere: Rep = GD» i u

CD $(Re)
corelation of the cdrag
orientation of the object with the direction of flow, the
For each particular shape of object and Tlhe curves in the figaure
t tigure 7.3 ( p.153/McCabe & Smith, 6 ed.).
Coeiiicient versus the Reynolds mnber is shown the face of the dsk are
a fioing sirea: the axis of the cylinder
and
apply oniy for objecis held n a fixed possiion
n

Peipendscular to tie direction of ikow. D g t7{p. 190/Mco 9th, F*s)

FT}: -s2 Ho)
Fle Paciud Bede

A system of considerable ismportance in chemical and other process engineering ficlds is the packed bed or
packed column which is used for a fixed-bed catalytic reactor, adsorption of a solute, absorption, filter bed and
so on. The packing maierial in the bed may be spheres, imeguiar particles, cylinders or various kinds of
commercial packing.

Fluid
ERGUN equation:

AP 59 Vuii-sP *175 p¥ (i-E)

L D
Where: AP = pressure drop across the bed
V, superficial velocity ( emnpty-tower velocity )
ssphericity ( refer to tabBe 7.1, 6 ed. of McCabe and Smish
& oosity or void iraction
vone ofvoids_ voiume of voiis _
total volne of bed vof. of voicds + vol. of solids

Ddiamcter ofthe packing nmaterial

Ldepth ofthe bed

When a fuid fiows upward through a packed bed of particles at low velocities, the pariicles remain siationary.
the Ergun cquation. Upon fusther
As the fluid velocity is increased, the pressure drop increases according to
cross-sectional area
increases in velocity, conditions îinally occur where the force of the pressure drop times ihe
Then the particles just begin to move, and ihis is
just equals the gravitational force on ihe mass of the particles.
the onset of fluidization or minimum fluidization.

Pressare drop:
AP (y ge) ( I - Em ) (f% - p ) For spheres: En (0.45

Minimn fluidizing velocity:

From the Ergun equation:
(g/g)(A - P ) = 150 VMu(1-) + 1.75 p V
Egansim 4FLtigd Bet
Once the bed is tluidized, the pressure drop across the bed stays constant, but the bed height may contiue to
increase with increasing flow.

Lsu

Fluid
Minimum fluidizing condition Expanded ffuidized bed

Volume of soiids Volume of solids

L S ( 1 -E s ) = LS(1 - 8 ) where: L = height of the expanded bed

S = cross sectional area of bed

L = Las - E M

(1-E)
Assuming that the flow between the particles is laminar:
150 V. =KV
(-s) D?Dg (p -P)
FROBLEMS:
Fio pastimanersed bodies. (Ex. probkm 3.1 - 3, Transpost Processes and Uit Operaions, 3 ei. By Geankoplis, Cu isai

Air a 37.& °C and i0i3 kPa absoBute pressure fBows past a spiere having a diameter of 42 mm and a velocty of 23 m's.
What is the drag cocfficiet ari ise force on the sphcre?

Flow past a packed bed

Air at 311 K is flowing hrough a packed bed ofspheres having a diameter of 12.7 mm. The void fraction ofthe bed is
0.38 and the bed h diameter of 0.61 m and a height of 2.44 m. The air enters the bed at 1.10 atm abs at the rate of
0.358 kg/s. Calculate 1he pressure drop of the air in the packed bed.

Flowin afuidized bed

I. Catalyst peliets 5 mm in diameter are to be fluidized with 45,000 kghr of air at I aäm and 80°C in a vertical cylindrical
vessel. The densly of the catalyst particles is 960 kg/'nr', their sphericiuy is 0.86. if the given quantity is jusi sutlicient
to fluidize ihe solids, what is the vessel diameter.