Study of Wall Effect on Particle Packing Structure using X-ray Micro Computed Tomography

Suzuki, T. Shinmura, K. Iimura, M. Hirota

Department of Mechanical and System Engineering, University of Hyogo, Japan, Email: suzuki@eng.u-hyogo.ac.jp

ABSTRACT

The wall effect on particle assembling structure in a particle packed bed is an important issue for powder technology. But the detailed and systematic experimental data about the wall effect on the particle assembling structure in a particle packed bed is hardly adequate yet. The distribution of a local void fraction near the container wall in a particle packed bed is measured using X-ray micro computed tomography. The wall of a cylindrical vessel affects to the void fraction distribution and the distribution can be expressed by the damped oscillation function that shows the relation between distance from the container wall and local void fraction. The damping factor, the amplitude and two factors in our damped oscillation function varied with the ratio of particle diameter and inner diameter of cylindrical container. Our empirical equation can be applied for X-ray CT data and also compared with the traditional experimental data by Ridgway and Tarbuck (1966).

Keywords Void fraction distribution, Wall effect, Packing structure, X-ray computed tomography