Sawdust discharge rate from aerated hoppers

Abstract This paper presents a numerical and experimental study of the discharge rate of sawdust from an aerated hopper as an important parameter in many industrial processes involving the handling of other granular materials. Numerical experiments are conducted by means of an Eulerian–Eulerian approach coupled with the kinetic theory of granular flow (KTGF). Emphasis is given to the effects of particle size, hopper outlet width, hopper half angle, aeration height and air flow rate. The results show that the discharge rate is significantly affected by hopper outlet width, particle size and air flow rate, but is not sensitive to the hopper half angle and aeration height: increasing hopper outlet width or air flow rate increases discharge rate, while increasing particle size decreases discharge rate. Close agreement between numerical predictions and experimental results is obtained.

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