ANALYSIS OF THE DISCHARGE IN BIDIMENSIONAL SILOS WITH INSERTS THROUGH THE USE OF COMPUTER FLUIDYNAMICS (CFD)

Abstract

The use of granular materials is present in the industry, making up half of the products of the chemical industry, usually stored in silos. Silos present challenges regarding discharge and might display dead zones, which can harm the storage. To comprehend the particle flow inside silos, this study aimed at the CFD simulation of the mass flow in silos with different inserts: no insert, BINSERT®, BINSERT 6cm, and conical insert, comparing the results with experimental data obtained in the literature. The influence of particle height, atmospheric pressure on the outlet, and the restitution and specularity coefficients were observed. An analysis of the particle flow inside the silo through velocity profiles was also made. For the simulations with no modifications on the parameters, the results were adequate for the no insert configuration, while modifications were necessary for the other inserts. The results weren’t affected significantly by changes in the particle height and atmospheric pressure. Raising the specularity coefficient resulted in lower mass flows, and the same was observed for changes in the restitution coefficient. It was stated that the value of the coefficients could be adjusted for a proper numeric convergence. The discharge flow of particles was considered as mass flow only with the BINSERT 6cm and conical insert configurations, which are suitable structural additions for the silo.