Particle-fluid flow and distribution in a horizontal pipe with side holes using experiment and numerical simulation

Particle-fluid flow in a horizontal pipe with side holes is common but poorly understood. Slurry flow experiments were conducted in three models. The slurry flow in the pipe was simulated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and discrete element method (DEM). The numerical model and parameters were calibrated and validated by experimental results. Effects of hole arrangement, diameter ratio, fluid parameters, and particle properties were analyzed. The results show that the slurry flow regime is diverse and complex due to different hole-arrangement patterns. Primary regimes are homogeneous, heterogenous, and two-layer flow. Opposite hole arrangement has the worst distribution uniformity. In the high-velocity fluid, rear-biased and bottom-biased distributions are primary characteristics. Tiny particles with a low density transported by high-viscosity fluid could distribute among holes. A regression model is developed to evaluate the uniformity of the particle distribution.