Chemical Engineering Science 66 (2011) 41274137

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Chemical Engineering Science

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ces

Three-dimensional CFD study of liquidsolid ow behaviors in tubular loop

polymerization reactors: The effect of guide vane
Wei-Cheng Yan, De-Pan Shi, Zheng-Hong Luo n, Ying-Hua Lu
Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China

a r t i c l e i n f o

abstract

Article history:
Received 18 October 2010
Received in revised form
10 May 2011
Accepted 24 May 2011
Available online 1 June 2011

A three-dimensional (3D) computational uid dynamics (CFD) model, using an EulerianEulerian twouid model incorporating the kinetic theory of granular ow, is adopted to describe the steady-state
liquidsolid two-phase ow under conditions employed in a tubular loop propylene polymerization
reactor composed of loop and axial ow pump. The model is validated by comparing its simulation
result with the classical calculated data as well as a set of data collected from certain pilot plant in
China. The entire ow behaviors and the effects of guide vane on them in the reactor are also
investigated numerically. Especially, the whole eld in the loop reactor with the guide vane is obtained
via the above model. The results show that a guide vane weakens the turbulent intensity, reduces the
component of the rotating velocity, and contributes to the uniform distribution of the particles in the
reactor. The second ow phenomenon is successfully predicted in the loop reactor with the guide vane.
& 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Chemical reactors
Complex uids
Computation
Multiphase ow
Polyolen loop reactor
Guide vane

1. Introduction
A computational uid dynamics (CFD) model is adopted to
describe the steady-state liquidsolid two-phase ow in tubular
loop propylene polymerization reactors recently (Shi et al.,
2010a,b). The entire ow behaviors described by the solid holdup
distributions in the tubular loop reactors are obtained. It is noted
that the simulated object is a pilot-plant scale polypropylene loop
reactor consisting of loop and axial ow pump with post-guide
vane, and some important two-phase ow behavior parameters,
such as the turbulent energies, the velocity vectors and the uid
trajectories, are not mentioned, although many ow features,
such as the excellent solid mixing, heat and mass transfer properties, can be related to these behavior parameters (Boothroyd,
1971; Akilli et al., 2001; Sheintuch and Nekhamkina, 2004).
Furthermore, the inuence of adding a guide vane installed on
the back of the axial ow pump is also not considered. Adding a
guide vane may decrease the turbulent intensity (Traube, 1967;
Tang and Zhu, 2004), however, a guide vane is an important
energy recovery apparatus, which increases the efciency of
conversion from rotating kinetic energy to axial kinetic energy
(Traube, 1967; Tang and Zhu, 2004). The inuence of adding a
guide vane installed on the back of the axial ow pump especially
needs to be further investigated for proper scale-up and design of

Corresponding author. Tel.: 86 592 2187190; fax: 86 592 2187231.

E-mail address: luozh@xmu.edu.cn (Z.-H. Luo).

0009-2509/$ - see front matter & 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ces.2011.05.039

reactors (Traube, 1967; Tang and Zhu, 2004; Naqvi et al., 2007;
Kim and Suh, 2008; Kim et al., 2009; Chi et al., 2010).
Refer to Mahecha-Botero et al. (2006, 2008, 2009a, b, c),
Ranade et al. (Khopkar and Ranade, 2006; Gunjal and Ranade,
2007; Utikar and Ranade, 2007; Kulkarni et al., 2008; Kasat et al.,
2008; Rampure et al., 2009) and us (Shi et al., 2010a, b) for a
survey of the papers on ow elds in reactors. There are still few
studies on the ow elds in loop polymerization reactors, especially for the inuence of adding a guide vane on the ow elds in
loop polymerization reactors. Recently, Liu et al. (2007) used a
three-dimensional (3D) EulerianEulerian model to study the
liquidsolid ow in a loop polymerization reactor. They only
simulated part of the loop reactor, ignoring the axial ow pump.
Mohanarangam et al. (2008) reported a numerical investigation
into the physical characteristics of dilute gas-particle ow over a
square-sectioned 901 bend based on a modied Eulerian two-uid
model. The modied EulerianEulerian model was found to yield
good agreement with the measured values. Tian et al. (2008) also
investigated the dilute gassolid two-phase ows in a curved 901
duct bed by the CFD simulation. Their objective was to investigate
the effect of wall roughness on the particle ow properties.
Therefore, besides the gas velocity distributions, the uid trajectories in the bed were also obtained. More recently, our group
(Gao et al., 2010) used an EulerianEulerian model incorporating
the kinetic theory of granular ow, the energy balance and the
heat transfer equations, to describe the steady-state temperature
eld in a loop propylene polymerization reactor. Unfortunately,
the ow behaviors in the loop reactors are not systemically

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W.-C. Yan et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 66 (2011) 41274137

studied in all the above reports. Furthermore, as far as we know,

the effect of a guide vane on the ow in the loop polymerization
reactors is still not studied.
This paper focuses on the systemic 3D CFD study of the liquid
solid ow in loop polymerization reactors. The model is validated
by comparing the simulation result with the classical calculated
as well as actual data. The entire ow characteristics in the
reactors are thus investigated for giving insight into the scaleup and improvement of the loop polymerization reactors. Particular attention is paid to the inuence of the guide vane on the
liquidsolid ow to optimize the axial ow pump in the loop
polymerization reactor.

2. 3D model of the tubular loop reactor

The Spheripol technology is one of the most widespread
commercial methods used to produce polypropylene. Its key part
consists of two liquid-phase loop reactors and a gas-phase
uidized bed reactor (FBR). In this work, a pilot-plant polypropylene loop reactor of the Spheripol technology in certain Chinese
chemical plant (shown in Fig. 1) is selected as our object. The
reactor has an inner-diameter of 0.15 m, a height of 3.3 m and a
length of 1.4 m, which is the same as that reported in our
previous work (Shi et al., 2010a, b). In order to investigate the
effect of the guide vane, a loop reactor of the same size and shape
without a post-guide vane, comparing with the loop reactor with
a post-guide vane, is also selected in this work. More details on
the loop reactor congurations are shown in Fig. 1. Furthermore,
the ow systems in the loop reactors are both supposed to be a
mixture of liquid-phase and solid-phase (Gao et al., 2010; Shi
et al., 2010a, b).
During the polymerization in the loop reactor, the growth rate
of the polymer particles is very slow, and their growth in
diameter is mainly determined by their residence time in the
reactor. Accordingly, under the steady-state conditions, the polymerization kinetics is not considered in this work (Shi et al.,
2010a, b). The polymerization temperature in the reactor remains
constant and the liquidsolid system in the reactor is simulated.
In this study, a 3D physical model of the reactor system is
built rst to simulate the 3D reactors. The commercial CAD code

Pro-ENGINEER 4.0 is adopted to built the 3D physical models and

their meshes are constructed in Gambit 2.3.16 (Ansys Inc., US).

3. CFD Model
An EulerianEulerian two-uid model that incorporates the
kinetic theory of granular ow is used to describe the liquidsolid
two-phase ow in loop polymerization reactors.
3.1. EulerianEulerian two uid equations
The continuity equations for phase n (n l for the liquid phase,
s for the solid phase) can be written as

rUal rl !
v l 0,

rUas rs !
v s 0:

The momentum balance equations for the liquid and solid

phases can be written as
--

!
rUal rl v l v l al rp rUtl Ksl !
v s  v l al rl g,
T

!
t l al ml r!
v l r v l ,

!
! !
rUas rs !
v s v s as rprps rUts Kls v q  v s as rs g,

!
!
t s as ms r!
v s r v s as ls 23ms rU v s I :

3.2. Kinetic theory of granular ow (KTGF)

The two-uid model requires constitutive equations to
describe the particulate phase viscosity and the particulate phase
pressure gradient. Due to the domination of collision interactions,
the concept from the uid kinetic theory is used to describe the
effective stresses in the solid phase resulting from particle
streaming collision contribution (Boemer et al., 1997). Constitutive relations for the solid-phase stress based on the kinetic
theory concepts have been derived by Lun et al. (1984). In
addition, corresponding equations derived by Lun et al. (1984)
are used in this present work.
ps as rs Ys 1 2g0 as 1 es ,

ls

r
4 2
Ys
as rs ds g0 1 es
;
3
p

where
g0

Ys

1
1as =as,max 1=3

1 0 0
mm:
3 s s

10

Furthermore, a transport equation for the granular temperature is also needed. The following equation has been proposed by
Ding and Gidspow (1990):
3
2

rUrs as v s Ys ps I ts : rv s rUkYs rYs gYs fls :

11

where kYs is given according to the model of Syamlal et al. (1993)

p
kYs 15rs ds as
Fig. 1. Loop reactor and axial ow pump.

p Ys

44133Z


12 2
16
Z 4Z3as g0
4133ZZas g0 ;
5
15p

12

W.-C. Yan et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 66 (2011) 41274137

where

Z 121 es :

13

The collisional dissipation of energy, gYs , is modeled using the

correlation by Lun et al. The corresponding equations are as
follows (Lun et al., 1984):

gYs

121e2s g0
p
rs a2s Y1:5
s ,
ds p

14

fls 3Kls Ys :

ms ms,col ms,kin ms,fr ;

16

where
4
ms,col as rs ds go 1 es
5

Ys

17


2
4
1 1 es as g0 ,
5
96as 1 es g0

Ys p

p sin y

ms,fr p

The general boundary conditions for granular temperature at

the wall follow the equation suggested by Johnson and Jackson
(1987). In this work, the equation is also applied as the corresponding boundary conditions.
p
p 

3Y
3prs g0 as Ys
qs
1e2w ,
fv2s,w 
25
2
6as,m
where qs represents the exchange of pseudo-thermal energy
between the particles and the wall.

15

There are a number of similar models for the solid phase

dynamic viscosity. The model selected in the present work is as
follows (Lun et al., 1984; Schaeffer, 1987; Gidaspow et al., 1992):

ms,kin 10ds rs

4129

18

19

I2D :

3.3. Drag force model

Similar to our previous works (Shi et al., 2010a, b), the transfer
of force between the liquidsolid two-phase is described by an
empirical drag law based on the Gidaspow et al.s (1992) model.
The applied equations are as follows:
at al 4 0:8, Ksl

!
aS al rl 9!
v s  v l 9 2:65
3
CD
al
,
4
ds

3.5. CFD modeling strategy

As described earlier, the CFD with the EulerianEulerian
approach is adopted to study the liquidsolid interactions in this
work. The standard ke model is adopted to describe the turbulence and the kinetic theory of granular ow is employed to close
the momentum balance equation for the solid phase. The above
equations are solved by the commercial CFD code FLUENT 6.3.26
(Ansys Inc., US) in double precision mode. The phase coupled
SIMPLE algorithm is used to couple pressure and velocity, and the
Multiple Reference Frame model (MRF) is used to simulate the
axial ow pump and they are associated by interface. In addition,
a commercial grid-generation tool, GAMBIT 2.3.16 (Ansys Inc., US)
is used to generate the 3D grids of the loop reactor model created
in Pro-ENGINEER 4.0. Initial grid sensitivity studies are carried out
(results not shown for the sake of brevity), ve kinds of grids with
total cells of 55,000, 610,000, 750,000, 870,000, and 970,000 have
been studied, and a total of 610,000 cells are sufcient to resolve
the 3D ow eld. The applied grid for the loop reactor in this work
is shown in Fig. 2. Furthermore, a Pentium 4 CPU of 2.83 GHz
cooperating with 4 GB RAM performs the simulations.

20

where
CD

Res

"

0:687 #
24
3
1
al Res
,
20
al Res

21

!
rl ds 9!
v s v l9
,
ml

22
!

at al r 0:8, Ksl 150

as 1al ml 7 as rl 9 v s  v l 9

:
4
ds
al d2s

23

3.4. Boundary conditions

The effects of the inlet and outlet of the loop reactor on the
hydrodynamics are ignored due to a comparatively higher circulation ux in the loop than in the inlet/outlet ux. Both the inlet and
outlet of the reactor are considered as wall. In addition, the
continuous phase is assumed to obey the no slip boundary condition
at the wall. For the solid phase, a partial slip model suggested by
Johnson and Jackson (1987) is used and shown as follows:
p
@vs,w
pfrs as g0 Ys
p
ms

vs,w ,
24
@n
2 3as,m
where f is the reection coefcient of wall, which describes the
interaction between the solid phase and the wall. Its value ranges
from 01. Among them, 0 describes the condition of free slip and
1 describes the condition of no slip.

Fig. 2. The applied grid for the whole loop reactor in this work: (a) the radial
section, (b) the elbow containing axial ow pump, (c) the vertical pipe.

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W.-C. Yan et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 66 (2011) 41274137

4. Simulation conditions
The simulation results dependence on the range of parameter
values are presented in Eqs. (1)(25). Most of the parameters are
directly linked to the properties of the liquid and solid phases. All
above parameter values adopted in this work are listed in Table 1.
In addition, we also point out that three important parameters
including the restitution coefcient (es), particlewall restitution
coefcient (ew) and specularity coefcient (f) were investigated
in our previous works (Shi et al., 2010a, b). Therefore, the same
values of the three parameters are applied and listed in Table 2.
Unless otherwise noted, the parameters used for the following
simulation are those in Tables 1 and 2.

pressure gradient data from certain pilot plant in China are

collected to further validate the CFD model. Fig. 3 gives the
comparisons of pressure gradient among the data at different
circulation ow velocities. In addition, the data shown in Fig. 3
includes the guide vane. From Fig. 3, one knows that the simulation results are in good agreement with not only the data
obtained by the classical Newitt model well, but also the data
from the pilot plant (Newitt and Richardson, 1961; Shi et al.,
1985). As a whole, the average deviations of the CFD model and
the classical model are 5.38% and 4.16%. In addition, Fig. 3 also
illustrates that the actual gradient data are higher than the
simulated data of the two groups.

5.2. The effect of the guide vane on the ow eld

5. Results and discussion
5.1. Model verication
As described in Section 3, the suggested model in this work is
similar to those reported in our previous works (Shi et al., 2010a,
b). The model is also veried in our previous works via the
comparison of pressure gradient between the predictions of CFD
model and the classical Newitt model (Newitt and Richardson,
1961; Shi et al., 1985, 2010a, b). However, no practical data are
adopted, which may not be convincible enough to conclude that
the CFD model agrees well with the observation. In this study, the
Table 1
Main physical property and operation parameters.
ds (m)
5  10

4

R (rad s  1)

as,i

rl (kg m  3)

rs (kg m  3)

ml (pa s)

400

0.35

417

900

5.54  10  5

Where R is the rotating speed of the axial ow pump and as,i is the initial solid
phase volume fraction.

As described earlier, the investigation of the effect of the guide

vane installed on the back of the axial ow pump on the ow eld
in the loop reactor is one of our objects in this work. In this
section, its effects on the liquid-phase ow velocity, the turbulent
energy, the velocity vector, the uid trajectory and the solid
holdup distribution are discussed. When the rotating speed of the
axial ow pump is 400 rad/s, the average velocity reaches to
7.34 m/s. In addition, only the ow elds in the vertical ascending
pipe and/or the elbow containing the axial ow pump are
simulated here because the effects of the guide vane represents
more obviously in them than other positions of the loop reactor.

5.2.1. The effect of the guide vane on the liquid-phase ow velocity

Fig. 4 shows the ow velocity contours of the liquid phase in
the vertical ascending pipe and the elbow containing the axial
ow pump. From Fig. 4, the velocity distribution of the liquid
phase in the loop with a guide vane is similar to that in the loop
without a guide vane. As a whole, in the two loop reactors, the
liquid-phase ow velocity near the axial ow pump is higher than
that at the other positions of the reactor and a uniform velocity

Table 2
Main parameters used in KTGF.
ew

es

as,max

0.9

0.9

0.63

0.0001

Fig. 3. Comparisons of the CFD simulated data with the pilot plant data and the
classical calculated data according to the empirical equation.

Fig. 4. Liquid phase velocity contour of the vertical ascending pipe and elbow
contains axial ow pump.

W.-C. Yan et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 66 (2011) 41274137

distribution can be obtained when the uid ows into the vertical
ascending pipe.
5.2.2. The effect of the guide vane on the turbulent energy
Fig. 5 illustrates the effect of the guide vane on the turbulent
energies. As described in Fig. 5, in both reactors, which are with
and without the guide vane, the turbulent energy near the reactor
wall is higher than that in the reactor center as a result of the
higher uctuation of the ow velocity near the wall. In addition, it
is also shown that the turbulent energy near the wall of the loop
reactor without a guide vane is larger than that with a guide vane,
namely, more energy loss occurs in the reactor when without a
guide vane. Accordingly, the simulated results prove that adding a
guide vane can weaken the turbulent intensity and reduce the
energy loss in the loop reactor.
5.2.3. The effect of the guide vane on the velocity vector
The owing motions of the rotating torus in the loop reactors
with and without the guide vane are also simulated via the above
model. The simulated velocity vectors in three typical positions in
the two loop reactors are shown in Fig. 6. From Fig. 6, it is found
that a more straight velocity vector prole can be obtained in the
loop reactor with a guide vane, than that without a guide vane. In
addition, an obvious curving prole can be found in Fig. 6b, which
means that adding the guide vane reduces the component of the
rotating velocity in the reactor. Furthermore, according to Fig. 6b,
with the owing of the uid along the reactor, the component of
the rotating velocity decreases.
5.2.4. The effect of the guide vane on the uid trajectory
The uid trajectories in the two reactors with/without the
guide vane are obtained and shown in Fig. 7. In practice, Fig. 7
describes the uid path lines behind the axial ow pump in the
steady state simulation. According to Fig. 7, in the loop reactor
without a guide vane the uid system comprising of the liquid
and solid phases ows with obvious rotating motions. However,
the uid system ows along obvious line paths in the loop reactor
with a guide vane, which is shown in Fig. 7a. As to the rotating

4131

motions shown in Fig. 7b, it brings out strong centrifugal force

acting on the solid particles in the reactor without a guide vane.
Accordingly, the particles move toward the wall due to the action
of the centrifugal force and congregate near the wall.

Fig. 6. Velocity vector of vertical ascending pipe. ((a) With post-guide vane. (b)
Without post-guide vane; top, middle, bottom: top, middle, bottom of the vertical
pipe after the pump).

Fig. 7. Fluid path lines. ((a) With post-guide vane. (b) Without post-guide vane).

Fig. 5. Turbulent energy contour of vertical ascending pipe. (a: With post-guide vane; b: Without post-guide vane; top, middle, bottom: top, middle, bottom of the vertical
pipe after the pump).

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W.-C. Yan et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 66 (2011) 41274137

5.2.5. The effect of the guide vane on the solid holdup distribution
The above agglomeration phenomenon can be proved via
describing the solid holdup distribution in the loop reactor.
Fig. 8 illustrates the solid holdup distributions in the vertical
ascending pipes of the two reactors with and without a guide
vane. From Fig. 8, one knows that there is an obvious particle
congregating phenomenon near the wall of the reactor without a
guide vane. Such a phenomenon leads to a low solid holdup in the
center and a high solid holdup near the wall of the loop reactor
yet. In addition, as shown in Fig. 8a, the solid holdup distribution
in the loop reactor with a guide vane is more uniform when
compared with that in Fig. 8b. In addition, Fig. 8a also shows that
due to the action of the centrifugal force there is still a small
particle congregating phenomenon in the top of the vertical
ascending pipe of the loop reactor with a guide vane.

Fig. 8. Particle volume fraction contour of vertical ascending pipe. ((a) With postguide vane. (b) Without post-guide vane).

5.3. The whole ow eld in the loop reactor with the guide vane
According to the investigation in Section 5.2, adding a guide
vane weakens the turbulent intensity and reduces the component
of the rotating velocity. In addition, as described earlier, the guide
vane is an important energy recovery apparatus and can increase
the efciency of conversion from rotating kinetic energy to axial
kinetic energy (Traube, 1967; Tang and Zhu, 2004). In practice,
the loop reactor with a guide vane is widely applied in the
polymerization industry. In order to further understand the
inuence of a guide vane, the whole ow eld in the loop reactor
with a guide vane is described.
5.3.1. The velocity distribution of the liquid phase in the whole loop
The velocity of the liquid phase is one of the most important
parameters in the loop reactors. In the above simulation, only the
velocity distributions of the liquid phase in certain positions of the
loop reactor are simulated. Here, the velocity distribution in the
whole loop reactor is obtained. From Fig. 9, the velocity distribution
within the loop with a guide vane is uniform as a whole. In addition,
an obvious high velocity area is found at the inner side of bends,
which is shown in Fig. 9a. With the uid owing along the loop, the
velocity distribution develops toward uniform. Specically, the velocity distribution of the liquid phase in the down bend/elbow situated
the bottom of the loop is described and shown in Fig. 9b. According to
Fig. 9b, one observes that there is an obvious velocity gradient within
the bend. It means that the second ow appears in the loop
(Mohanarangam et al., 2008; Tian et al., 2008). In Section 5.3.2, the
second ow phenomenon is described in detail. In addition, some
simulated positions in this loop/bend are also described in Fig. 9.
5.3.2. The second ow in the loop
The velocity distribution of the liquid phase in the left bottom
bend shown in Fig. 9b is rstly simulated. Fig. 10 describes the
velocity distribution of the liquid phase in the down bend. From
Fig. 10, the velocity proles of the liquid phase are uniform before it
ows into the elbow (s/D  0.5) after the development in the
vertical descending pipe. But when the uid ows into the elbow
(y 01), the velocity at the inner side of elbow accelerates; however,
it will slow down at the outer side. Therefore, a high velocity region
is formed next to the inner wall. Along the elbow (y 01-301), this

Fig. 9. Liquid phase velocity contour of the whole tubular loop reactor. ((a) Whole tubular loop reactor. (b) Left bottom elbow).

W.-C. Yan et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 66 (2011) 41274137

4133

Fig. 10. Liquid phase velocity distribution of the elbow.

phenomenon becomes more and more evident. Between y 301 and

601, the velocity proles almost keep the same. In the rest part of the
elbow (y 601-901), the velocity at the outer side of elbow
accelerates, but slows down at the inner side. When the slurry
ows out of the elbow, the high-speed area gradually moves toward
the outside of the elbow, and the velocity of the outside of the elbow

is nally greater than that of inner side. The formation of this

secondary ow behavior is attributed to changes in local pressure
gradients (Mohanarangam et al., 2008; Tian et al., 2008). In order to
explain this phenomenon, the pressure distribution in the elbow is
simulated and the simulated results are shown in Fig. 11. As shown
in Fig. 11, the pressure (here, the simulation pressure is a relative

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W.-C. Yan et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 66 (2011) 41274137

pressure in order to reect a pressure gradient) at the outside

of elbow is much greater than that at the inner, which leads to
an acceleration of the velocity at the inner side of elbow when
y 451901, and a deceleration when y 451901.
The velocity distributions at the initial interface, middle and the
end of straight pipes which are marked in the Fig. 9a will be discussed
as following. Fig. 12 describes the velocity distributions of the liquid
and solid phases in the vertical ascending pipe. From Fig. 12, in the
vertical ascending pipe, the velocities of the liquid phase and solid

Fig. 11. Static pressure contour of the elbow.

phase are almost the same, and there is no velocity slip between the
two phases. At the initial interface of the vertical ascending pipe,
shown at Fig. 12a, the velocity in the inner side of the tubular loop is
higher than that in the outer side. In the middle of the vertical pipe, as
shown at Fig. 12b, the velocities are fully developed. When it comes
to the end of the vertical ascending pipe, the velocity at the inner side
of the tubular loop is higher than that at the outer side again.
Fig. 13 shows the velocity distributions of the liquid and solid
phases in the top horizontal pipe. From Fig. 13d, at the beginning
of the horizontal pipe, there is some velocity slip between the
liquid phase and solid phase in the outer side of the tubular loop,
and the solid phase velocity is higher than the liquid-phase
velocity, which is because the solid phase suffers a larger
centrifugal force compared with the liquid phase. From Fig. 13e,
the velocities in the middle of the top horizontal pipe are not
completely developed. And to be the same as the vertical
ascending pipe, from Fig. 13f, the velocities at the inner side of
the tubular loop are higher than that at in the outer side.
Fig. 14 shows the velocity distributions of the liquid and solid
phases in vertical descending pipe. Similar to the top horizontal
pipe, from Fig. 14g, it is found that in the initial interface of the
vertical descending pipe, there is some velocity slips between the
liquid phase and solid phase in the outer side of the tubular loop,
and the solid phase velocity is higher than the liquid-phase velocity.
Along the pipe, the slurry velocity begins to develop gradually into
fully developed, but there is a low velocity region in the center of the
pipe. The same results can be observed in the above two pipes, the
velocities in the inner side of the tubular loop are higher than those
at the outer side in the end of the vertical descending pipe.

Fig. 12. Liquid and solid phase velocity distribution of the vertical ascending pipe. (r/R 1: the inside of tubular loop reactor, r/R  1: the outside of tubular loop reactor).

W.-C. Yan et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 66 (2011) 41274137

4135

Fig. 13. Liquid and solid phase velocity distribution of the top horizontal pipe. (r/R 1: the inside of tubular loop reactor, r/R  1: the outside of tubular loop reactor).

Fig. 14. Liquid and solid phase velocity distribution of the vertical descending pipe. (r/R1: the inside of tubular loop reactor, rr/R  1: the outside of tubular loop reactor).

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W.-C. Yan et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 66 (2011) 41274137

6. Conclusions
In this study, a 3D CFD model is adopted to describe the steadystate liquidsolid two-phase ow under conditions employed in a
tubular loop propylene polymerization reactor. The model is validated
by comparing the simulation result with the classical calculated data
as well as the data collected from certain pilot plant in China. The
predicted pressure drop data are found to be in good agreement with
both of them. The entire ow behaviors and the effects of a guide
vane on them in the reactor are also investigated numerically.
The simulation results show that adding a guide vane weakens
the turbulent intensity, reduces the component of the rotating
velocity in the reactors, and contributes to the uniform distribution of the particles in the reactor. In addition, the second ow
phenomenon can be successfully simulated in the reactor with a
guide vane. Furthermore, the simulated results show that there is
a high velocity area within the bend of the loop reactor with the
guide vane due to the effect of centrifugal force.

Notation
Cd
dp
D
es
ew
g
I
I2D
Kls
p
ps
R
Res
vl
vs
vs,w

al
as
as,m
f

ml
ms
ms,col
ms,kin
ms,fr
y
Ys

gYs
tl
ts
ls

rl
rs

drag coefcient
particle diameter (m)
pipe diameters (m)
particleparticle restitution coefcient
particlewall restitution coefcient
gravitational acceleration (m s  2)
identity matrix
second invariant of the deviatoric stress tensor
interphase exchange coefcient (kg m2 s  1)
pressure (Pa)
particulate phase pressure (Pa)
rotating velocity of loop reactor (rad s  1)
particles Reynolds number
liquid velocity (m s  1)
solid velocity, (m s  1)
solid velocity at wall, (m s  1)
volume fraction of liquid phase
volume fraction of solid phase
maximum volume fraction of solid phase
specularity factor
viscosity of liquid phase (Pa s)
solid shear viscosity (Pa s)
solid collisional viscosity (Pa s)
solid kinetic viscosity (Pa s)
solid frictional viscosity (Pa s)
angle of internal friction (deg.)
granular temperature (m2 s  2)
collisional dissipation of energy (m2 s  2)
shear stress of liquid phase (N m  2)
shear stress of solid phase (N m  2)
solid bulk viscosity (Pa s)
liquid density (kg m  3)
solid density (kg m  3)

Acknowledgments
The authors thank National Natural Science Foundation of
China (No. 21076171) and China National Petroleum Corporation
for supporting this work. We would also like to thank Dr. Fox
R.O. and Dr. Ram G.R. (Department of Chemical & Biological
Engineering, Iowa State University) for their valuable discussion

in this work. The authors also thank the anonymous referees for
comments on this manuscript.
The simulation work are implemented by advanced software
tools (FLUENT 6.3.26 and GAMBIT 2.3.16) provided by China
National Petroleum Corporation and its subsidiary company.

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