High Performance Computation of Reacting Flow

Fluidised bed is one of the dominant chemical reactors for gas-solid mixing and chemical production, and has been widely used in both conventional and emerging industries, such as pharmaceutical, metallurgy, and mining, especially in Australia. By introducing a strong jet flow, the packed particles with large density, diameter or complex shapes in the fluidised beds are vigorously dragged and formed a spouting channel with two circulation pattern. The spout deflection can be easily triggered by small disturbances, which means that the spout channel alternatively deflects in the lateral direction. This phenomenon not only deteriorates the flow uniformity and product quality but also limits the scale-up of the fluidised bed.

This project aims to carry out a comprehensive study on spout deflection via combining laser-based experimental method and particle-scale numerical method. The initial study has demonstrated that spout deflection has a higher gas-solid mixing efficiency than the existing flow pattern in applications. This program will continue to explore the application and control of spout deflection for further scale-up of fluidised beds.

We welcome talented students who are interested in this work to join our group. A variety of scholarships for both domestic and international students is available.  Besides, this research provides high-quality education that prepares you in your future career of various enterprises and research institutes.

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Particle mixing is an essential process to control product quality produced from particle blends in many industries, such as pharmaceutical, food and chemical engineering industries.  Hence, the predictability and optimisation of the mixing behaviour of granular materials play a crucial role in energy-saving in these industrial scenes. This project aims to develop an advanced numerical technique - discrete element method (DEM), and to investigate particle mixing performance in different mixers (e.g., cylindrical mixer, ribbon mixer and rotating drum) for predicting the mixture quality.

Research environment: PhD student will work with ProMO group and be part of the Future Food System CRC community. We will provide various scholarships for both domestic and international talented students who are interested in process modelling.

Expected Outcome: Successful candidate will participate in international conferences and publish his/her work in high impact factor journals.