ASYMPTOTIC POWER SPECTRUM ANALYSIS OF CHAOTIC BEHAVIOR IN FLUIDIZED BEDS

Abstract

The nonlinear behavior of fluidized beds is analyzed quantitatively using an asymptotic power spectrum method. A model based on kinetic theory is used to compute the voidage signals in a two-dimensional bubbling fluidized bed with a fluidization condition of U/U_mf=4, where U is the fluidizing velocity and U_mf is the minimum fluidizing velocity. The data for power versus frequency in the asymptotic frequency regime are shown to obey a power-law falloff. This means that the bubbling fluidization under such a fluidization condition cannot be a low-dimensional strange attractor. Pressure fluctuation data, obtained from a three-dimensional bubbling fluidized bed, are also analyzed and clearly show the power-law falloff. This is consistent with previous findings in that the correlation dimension for these data cannot be small (i.e., 2 or 3). The differences between our findings and others are discussed.