The influence of particle size on the flow of initially fluidised powders

When particles are allowed to move over a horizontal surface, the effect of gas flow through them is to increase the distance over which they move, termed their mobility. This has already been shown for cases when gas is continuously passed through a current of particles, but this investigation shows that this is also true when the gas flow is only initially present. Experiments were conducted on a column of fluidised particles that were released into an enclosed channel by the removal of a wall, and the distance travelled by the particles was measured. The behaviour of fine particles (group A in the Geldart classification of fluidised particles) was distinct from that of larger particles. The mobility was modified when they were mixtures of different-sized particles. In particular, when there was no gas flow, the mobility was a maximum when the proportion of fine particles was 30% and the magnitude of this effect increased with the size of the coarser component of the mixture. All the different mixtures of particles acted in a similar manner with increasing mobility for a given gas flow rate with proportion of fine particles until roughly half the mixture was composed of fine particles, and there was then no further increase.