REU Supplement: Beds of Particles Fluidized by Liquids

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This project is for experiments and analysis of fluidized beds. The topics to be studied are wakes and turning couples as fundamental mechanisms of fluidization; determination of the most probable arrangements of fluidized particles in a bed; experimental and numerical studies of stable cross-stream arrays of spheres confined to move in two dimensions; development of an empirically based theory of the effective density of a fluidized suspension and the decompositions of the force on a particle into buoyancy plus drag; experimental verification of the nonlinear theory of kinematic waves with particular attention to smoothing and shocking of rarefaction and compression waves as a function of the Richardson and Zaki exponent; and the analysis of transitions to aggregative fluidization (formation of bubbles) based on generalizations of recent work of Foscolo and Gibilaro, together with experimental tests. The experiments are to be based on the construction and instrumentation of several return flow fluidization columns. The columns shall be constructed so that the gap size can be changed. The smallest gap will confine the motion of particles to two dimensions. The instrumentation is to be based on the Kodak Spin Physics high speed video and motion analysis system. This video is different than others in that it is based on digital imaging and there is a provision for interfacing with a computer. Hence, the data one might want for the interpretation of images is actually available in a digitized form suitiable for direct statistical analysis.