Carman –

Kozeny
Pressure Drop for Smooth PIPE
Isolated SPHERE and PACKED BED
Carman-Kozeny Model
Flow Through a Bed of Particles
 Fixed Bed
How do we calculate the pressure drop across a fixed bed?
Start with the MEB:

p
 Lb g   h f
f
For pipe flow we determined:

2
 L V
hf  4 f  
 D 2
 Pressure Drop

For now make the following assumptions:

• Horizontal Bed (or small L)
Gravity not important.
• Particles pack uniformly giving rise to continuous
flow channels
• Bed can be modeled as bundle of small pipes.
• Flow is laminar (f = 16/Re).
Laminar Flow
 16  L  V 
 2
 p
 4   
f  Re  D  2 
32 LV ?

D2  f

What are the proper velocity and diameter?

 Laminar Flow
72  Lu0 1   
2
p  2 3
Dp 
In actuality the above equation does not account for the tortuous path
through the bed and DL is much longer. Experimental data show that a
numerical constant of 150 should replace the 72.

150  Lu0 1   
2
p 
D p2 3
Blake-Kozeny equation. Assumes e < 0.5 and Re p < 10.

1 D p u0  f
Re p 
1  
 Turbulent Flow
One cannot use the Hagen-Poiseuille approximation when flow is
turbulent. After substituting in Dh and velocity correction

3 f u02 L 1   
p 
Dp 3
Experimentally:

1.75  u L 1   
2

Re p  1,000 p  0
Dp 3
Burke-Plummer Equation
Intermediate Flow
150  u0 Lb 1    1.75  u Lb 1   
2 2
p  2 3
 3
0
Dp  Dp 
Ergun Equation
D
p p  3
150
  1.75
 u0 L 1    Re p
2

Note: equation can be used with gases using average gas density
between inlet and outlet.
Fixed Bed “Friction Factor”