SAJJAD KHUDHUR ABBASCeo , Founder & Head of SHacademyChemical Engineering , Al-Muthanna University, IraqOil & Gas Safety and Health Professional – OSHACADEMYTrainer of Trainers (TOT) - Canadian Center of Human Development

Episode 44 : Flow Behavior of Granular Materials and Powders

Part III

Bin and Hopper Design

Figure 1: a. pressure in a silo filled with a fluid (imaginary); b. vertical stress after filling the silo with a bulk solid; c. vertical stress after the discharge of some bulk solid

Gravity flow through orifices• Law of hydrodynamics do not apply to the flow of solid granular

materials through orifices:• Pressure is not distributed equally in all directions due to the development of

arches and to frictional forces between the granules.• The rate of flow is not proportional to the head, except at heads smaller than

the container diameter.• No provision is made in hydrodynamics for size and shape of particles, which

greatly influence the flow rate.

Particle history

Hopper Flow Modes• Mass Flow - all the material in the hopper is in motion, but not

necessarily at the same velocity• Funnel Flow - centrally moving core, dead or non-moving annular

region• Expanded Flow - mass flow cone with funnel flow above it

Mass Flow

Typically need 0.75 D to 1D to

enforce mass flow

D

Material in motion

along the walls

Does not imply plug flow with equal velocityall the material

in the hopper is in motion at discharge, but not necessarily at the same velocity

Funnel Flow

“Dead” or non-flowing region or stagnant zone

Act

ive

Flow

C

hann

el

If a hopper wall is too flat and/or too rough, funnel flow will appear.(centrally moving core, dead or non-moving annular region)

Expanded Flow

Funnel Flow upper section

Mass Flow bottom section

mass flow cone with funnel flow above it

Problems with Hoppers• Ratholing/Piping and Funnel Flow• Arching/Doming• Insufficient Flow• Irregular flow• Inadequate Emptying• Time Consolidation - Caking

Ratholing/Piping

Stable Annular Region

Voi

d

• Occurs in case of funnel flow. • The reason for this is the strength (unconfined yield strength) of the bulk solid. • If the bulk solid consolidates increasingly with increasing period of storage at rest, the risk of ratholing increases.

Funnel Flow

-Segregation

-Inadequate Emptying

-Structural Issues

Coa

rse

Coa

rse

Fine

Segregation• In case of centric filling, the larger particles

accumulate close to the silo walls, while the smaller particles collect in the centre.

• In case of funnel flow, the finer particles, which are placed close to the centre, are discharged first while the coarser particles are discharged at the end. If such a silo is used, for example, as a buffer for a packing machine, this behaviour will yield to different particle size distributions in each packing.

• In case of a mass flow, the bulk solid will segregate at filling in the same manner, but it will become "remixed" when flowing downwards in the hopper. Therewith, at mass flow the segregation effect described above is reduced significantly.

Arching/Doming

Cohesive Arch preventing material from exiting hopper

• If a stable arch is formed above the outlet so that the flow of the bulk solid is stopped, then this situation is called arching. • In case of fine grained, cohesive bulk solid, the reason of arching is the strength (unconfined yield strength) of the bulk solid which is caused by the adhesion forces acting between the particles. • In case of coarse grained bulk solid, arching is caused by blocking of single particles. • Arching can be prevented by sufficiently large outlets.

Insufficient Flow

- Outlet size too small

- Material not sufficiently permeable to permit dilation in conical section -> “plop-plop” flow

Material needs to dilate here

Material under compression in

the cylinder section

Irregular flow• Irregular flow occurs if arches and ratholes are formed and collapse

alternately. Thereby fine grained bulk solids can become fluidized when falling downwards to the outlet opening, so that they flow out of the silo like a fluid.

• This behaviour is called flooding. Flooding can cause a lot of dust, a continuous discharge becomes impossible.

Inadequate emptying

Usually occurs in funnel flow silos where the cone angle is insufficient to allow self draining of the bulk solid.

Remaining bulk solid

Time Consolidation - Caking• Many powders will tend to cake as a function of time, humidity,

pressure, temperature• Particularly a problem for funnel flow silos which are infrequently

emptied completely

What the chances for mass flow?

Cone Angle Cumulative % of from horizontal hoppers with mass flow

45 060 2570 5075 70

*data from Ter Borg at Bayer

Mass Flow (+/-)+ flow is more consistent+ reduces effects of radial segregation+ stress field is more predictable+ full bin capacity is utilized+ first in/first out- wall wear is higher (esp. for abrasives)- higher stresses on walls- more height is required

Funnel flow (+/-)+ less height required- ratholing- a problem for segregating solids- first in/last out- time consolidation effects can be severe- silo collapse- flooding- reduction of effective storage capacity

How is a hopper designed?• Measure

- powder cohesion/interparticle friction- wall friction- compressibility/permeability

• Calculate- outlet size- hopper angle for mass flow- discharge rates

Types of BinsConical Pyramidal

Watch for in-flowing valleys in these bins!

Types of BinsWedge/Plane Flow

B

L

L>3B

Chisel

Design diagram for mass flow (wedge-shaped hopper)

w (angle of wall friction)

(slope of hopper wall)

= effective angle of internal friction

Design diagram for mass flow (conical hopper)

w (angle of wall friction)

(slope of hopper wall)

= effective angle of internal friction

Stress conditions in the hopper (emptying)

1 = bearing stress, 1 = major principal stress c = unconfined yield strength

c > 1 : arching is stable, no flow

c < 1 : flow

Flow function and time flow function

Hopper forms

Summary• The design of silos in order to obtain reliable flow is possible on the

basis of measured material properties and calculation methods. Because badly designed silos can yield operational problems and a decrease of the product quality, the geometry of silos should be determined always on the basis of the material properties. The expenses for testing and silo design are small compared to the costs of loss of production, quality problems and retrofits.

Critical dimensions of hopper openings• To determine critical dimension, failure conditions must be

established for two basic obstructions; arching (no flow) and piping (flow may be reduced or limited).

• Consider that the strongest possible arch may form, the critical opening dimension (B) becomes:

• B c/w (for slot opening)• B 2c/w (for circular opening)Where w = bulk density

1

T = thickness

B = opening dimension

Flow factor (ff) depends upon:• (effective angle of internal friction)• w (angle of wall friction)• (slope of hopper wall)

w

Mass flow

funnel flow

ff

Example• Calculate the critical width B for arching of the slot opening of a

wedge shaped, mild steel hopper with = 30C

• For mild steel hopper with wall friction angle = 35, the maximaum effective angle of friction () = 55

55

ff = 1.25

ff = 1.25

No intersection of ff and this FF, there is no arching problem

• From 1 = 65 lb/ft2, c = 50 lb/ft2, w = 90 lb/ft3 and = 55, therefore B 50/90 0.6 ft or critical slot with for arching is about 7 inches.

ff = 1.25

There is an intersection of ff and this FF, there is

arching problem

c = 50

1 = 65

Determination of Outlet Size

B = c,i H()/W

H() is a constant which is a function of hopper angle

Bulk density = W

H() Function

Cone angle from vertical10 20 30 40 50 60

1

2

3

H(

)

Rectangular outlets (L > 3B)

Square

Circular

Example: Calculation of a Hopper Geometry for Mass Flow

An organic solid powder has a bulk density of 22 lb/cu ft. Jenike shear testing has determined the following characteristics given below. The hopper to be designed is conical.

Wall friction angle (against SS plate) = w = 25º

Bulk density = W = 22 lb/cu ft

Angle of internal friction = = 50º

Flow function c = 0.3 1 + 4.3

Using the design chart for conical hoppers, at w = 25º

c = 17º with 3º safety factor

& ff = 1.27

Example: Calculation of a Hopper Geometry for Mass Flow

ff = /a or a = (1/ff)

Condition for no arching => a > c

(1/ff) = 0.3 1 + 4.3 (1/1.27) = 0.3 1 + 4.3

1 = 8.82 c = 8.82/1.27 = 6.95

B = 2.2 x 6.95/22 = 0.69 ft = 8.33 in

Discharge Rates (Q)• Numerous methods to predict discharge rates from silos or hopper• For coarse particles (>500 microns)

Beverloo equation - funnel flowJohanson equation - mass flow

• For fine particles - one must consider influence of air upon discharge rate

Beverloo equation• Q = 0.58 b g0.5 (B - kdp)2.5

where Q is the discharge rate (kg/sec)b is the bulk density (kg/m3)g is the gravitational constantB is the outlet size (m)k is a constant (typically 1.4)dp is the particle size (m)

Note: Units must be SI

Johanson Equation• Equation is derived from fundamental principles - not

empirical• Q = b (/4) B2 (gB/4 tan c)0.5

where c is the angle of hopper from verticalThis equation applies to circular outletsUnits can be any dimensionally consistent setNote that both Beverloo and Johanson show that Q

B2.5!

Silo Discharging Devices• Slide valve/Slide gate• Rotary valve• Vibrating Bin Bottoms• Vibrating Grates• others

Rotary Valves

Quite commonly used to discharge materials from bins.

Screw Feeders

Dead Region

Better Solution

Discharge Aids• Air cannons• Pneumatic Hammers• VibratorsThese devices should not be used in place of a properly designed

hopper!

They can be used to break up the effects of time consolidation.

Flow rate equations• From Ewalt and Buelow (1963), measuring flow of shell corn from

straight-sided wooden bins equipped with test orifices:• Horizontal openings, circular orifice (8.4% MC db)

• Q = 0.1196 B3.1

• Horizontal openings, rectangular orifice (12.1% MC db)• Q = 0.153 W1.62 L1.4

• Vertical openings, circular orifice (12.7% MC db)• Q = 0.0351 B3.3

• Vertical openings, rectangular orifice (12.4% MC db)• Q = 0.0573 W1.75 L1.5

• Q = KWn

• K and n are two constants which can be found either by substituting experimental data from two sets of tests and solving the two equations simultaneously or by determination them directly from the slope and y-intercepts of the straight line plot of Q versus one of the dimensions on log-log graph paper.

• Q = f(i, r, d/D, D, bulk density and etc.)• There is no single parameter satisfactory relationship for estimating

Q.

• Most important parameter is the opening diameter (greatly affect on flow rate)

• Q D3

Log Q

Log D

Slope ~ 2.8-3.2

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