This book analyses the use of a pulsed gas flow to structure bubbling gas-solid fluidised beds and to induce a special fluidisation state, called "dynamically structured flow", as a promising approach to process intensification. It explores the properties of bubbles rising in staggered periodic arrays without direct interaction, assessing their size, separation, and velocity, and explains how a highly uniform, scalable flow offers tight control over the system hydrodynamics. These features are desirable, as they not only bypass engineering challenges occurring in traditional operations, such as maldistribution and non-uniform contact, but also allow to decouple conflicting design objectives, such as mixing and gas-solid contact. The thesis also presents computational simulations which reveal the periodic transitions of the particulate phase between fluid-like and solid-like behaviour. This book will be of interest to researchers, engineers, and graduate students alike, particularly those working in industrial drying, combustion, and chemical production.

An in-depth experimental study of the fluid dynamics of turbulent fluidized beds with particles of Geldart’s Group B was carried out. For this purpose, fluidization behavior was investigated in different fluidized bed plants having diameters in the range of 0.05 m to 1 m. Pressure fluctuation analysis has been used as an identification tool for the turbulent fluidized bed regime. Different fluidization conditions have been investigated by variation of the fluidized bed properties, the bed material properties, and the gas properties. Based on the measured data, a correlation predicting the transition velocity from bubbling to turbulent fluidization is introduced. To investigate the local flow structure, capacitance probe measurements have been carried out. Using this measurement technique, local solids concentrations and properties of rising bubbles have been determined and analyzed. Finally, an empiric fluid dynamic model was developed using the local measurement data. It is mainly based on capacitance probe measurements and shows high accuracy in comparison to pressure data.