A Closure based on Direct Numerical Simulations for virtual mass force in dense liquid-solid systems

In liquid-solid fluidization, the virtual mass force impacts the dynamics of particle movement and solids mixing. This force is an unsteady interaction force that is proportional to the change in relative acceleration between the particle and the surrounding fluid. While this force is significant, quantitative information on the virtual mass coefficient for dense liquid-solid systems, as encountered in liquid-fluidized beds is lacking. In this work, Particle Resolved Computational Fluid Dynamics (PR-CFD) simulations are performed to quantify the impact of solids volume fraction and particle density on the virtual mass force. Based on these PR-CFD simulations, a new correlation is proposed for the virtual mass force as a function of solids volume fraction.