Analysis of chaos in fluidization using electrical capacitance tomography

Fluidized beds display a degree of structure which it is vital to understand in any design and scale-up of equipment. This paper is on the employment of chaos theory to describe this structure. The measuring technique of electrical capacitance tomography is used to determine the local porosity of a gas - solids fluidized bed and to monitor its fluctuation with time. These raw data are translated into invariants characteristic of the structure mentioned, such as the Kolmogorov entropy. Initial measurements have shown a strong variation in these chaotic invariants with bed position and operational parameters. First results are compared with earlier data from pressure measurements.