Chemical Engineering Science 59 (2004) 31 40

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Hydrodynamics and steel tube wastage in a uidized bed at elevated temperature

K. Johanssona , R. Norlingb , A. Hjornhedeb , A-E. Almstedta; , F. Johnssonc , A. Nylundb
b Department a Department

of Thermo and Fluid Dynamics, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-412 96 Goteborg, Sweden of Materials Science and Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-412 96 Goteborg, Sweden c Department of Energy Conversion, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-412 96 Goteborg, Sweden Received 24 April 2003; received in revised form 20 August 2003; accepted 23 September 2003

Abstract Hydrodynamic measurements were made in a bubbling uidized bed operated at 550 C at three di erent excess gas velocities (0.15, 0.40 and 0:75 m=s). The bed has a cross-sectional area of 0:2 m 0:3 m with an immersed tube bank consisting of 59 horizontal stainless steel tubes (AISI 304L), 21 of which are exchangeable, thus allowing erosion studies. Capacitance probe analysis was used to determine the mean bubble rise velocity, the mean bubble frequency, the mean pierced bubble length, the mean bubble volume fraction and the mean visible bubble ow rate. Tube wastage was calculated from roundness proles obtained by stylus prolometry. A redistribution of the bubble ow towards the center of the bed occurs when the excess gas velocity is increased. Measurements along a target tube, situated next to the capacitance probe, usually show greater material wastage at the central part of the tube, since the mean bubble rise velocity and the mean visible bubble ow rate are higher there. It is suggested that the greater material degradation is also an e ect of the through- ow of a particle-transporting gas stream in the bubbles. With increasing height above the distributor plate the circumferential wastage proles for the lowest excess gas velocity show a gradual change from an erosion pattern with one maximum (Type B behavior) to a pattern with two maxima (Type A behavior). Power spectral density distributions of the uctuating pressure signals show that this is a result of the formation of larger bubbles, when the uidization regime is changed in the upper part of the bed. At the highest excess gas velocity the bubble ow becomes more constrained due to a more rapid coalescence of the bubbles and the tubes show Type A wastage proles throughout the bed. ? 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Fluidization; Erosion; Fluidized bed combustion; Multiphase ow; Energy; Environment

1. Introduction In recent years, there has been increasingly widespread use of uidized bed combustors (FBC) for energy conversion. Common fuels are coal, municipal waste, peat and biomass. The uidized bed combustors used today are bubbling FBCs and circulating uidized bed combustors (CFBC). Depending on the operating pressure, bubbling FBCs are further divided into atmospheric and pressurized FBCs. In an FBC, bubbles form at the air distributor plate. As the bubbles rise through the bed, they coalesce and grow larger, eventually erupting at the surface. The bubble activity results in intense mixing of solids and almost isothermal conditions. A well-controlled temperature facilitates the combustion of fuel at a low temperature (typically

Corresponding author. Tel.: +46-31-772-1407; fax: +46-31-180976. E-mail address: a e@tfd.chalmers.se (A.-E. Almstedt).

850 C). This is of great environmental interest as it allows NOx emissions to be kept at an acceptably low level. Sulfur emissions can also be reduced by adding dolomite or limestone as a sorbent in the bed. The heat produced is most often absorbed by water and/or steam circulating in the vessel walls and/or in tubes immersed in the bed. Due to the intensive mixing of solids and the large contact area between particles and immersed tubes, the heat transfer coe cient is high. Under these conditions the tubes su er to a large extent from erosioncorrosion, i.e. a combination of mechanical degradation from particles impacting and sliding on the metal surfaces and chemical degradation from the surrounding atmosphere (cf., e.g. Wright et al., 1986; Norling and Olefjord, 2001). The synergism between erosion and corrosion usually enhances the material wastage, cf. e.g. Kang et al. (1987), Stack et al. (1993) and Nicholls (1997). However, the present study evaluates only mechanical wear.

0009-2509/$ - see front matter ? 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ces.2003.09.027

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The in uence of di erent parameters such as uidization velocity, mean particle diameter and operating pressure on the erosion of a single or a few tubes has been studied by, e.g., Ninham et al. (1990), Zhu et al. (1990) and Hou et al. (1997). Olsson et al. (1995) and Wiman (1997) studied the e ect of the tube bank geometry on the hydrodynamics in a cold uidized bed by the capacitance probe technique and spectral analysis of the uctuating pressure. The hydrodynamics in cold and/or hot uidized beds have also been investigated by the capacitance probe technique by, e.g., Geldart and Kelsey (1972), Werther and Molerus (1973) and Hage and Werther (1997). Nicastro and Glicksman (1984), Svensson et al. (1996), Johnsson et al. (2000) and Brown and Brue (2001) used spectral analysis in their investigations. Exposures of tubes made of PVC or stearin-coated target tubes by, e.g., Parkinson et al. (1985), Wiman et al. (1995) and Wiman and Almstedt (1997) have given valuable information on the coupling between tube degradation and hydrodynamics in a uidized bed. However, the e ect on steel materials at elevated temperatures is still poorly understood. The aim of the present work is therefore to present results of a study investigating the coupling between the hydrodynamics in a uidized bed and the erosion of a steel tube bank maintained at 550 C. The results can, e.g., be applied to superheaters located in the solids return path of a CFBC. 2. Experiments 2.1. Experimental rig and operating conditions The test rig is made of stainless steel and has a rectangular cross-section of 0:2 m 0:3 m and is positioned inside an insulated radiator. Air enters the bed vessel through an air distributor plate with 11 50-mm high nozzles. Each nozzle is provided with four horizontally directed orices. The tube bank consists of 59 tubes, 21 of which are exchangeable (marked with white circles in Fig. 1) and used for erosion exposures. To protect the test tubes from excessive degradation due to any jet e ect from the air nozzles, one row of dummy tubes is located at the bottom of the tube bank. Before exposure, the tubes were nish-turned to an outer diameter of 26:4 mm to obtain a smooth surface. The tube material was AISI 304L stainless steel (0.02C-18.1Cr-10.1Ni-1.3Mn-0.5Si-0.3Mo-0.2Cu). Three pressure taps and one optional capacitance probe were used for the hydrodynamic measurements, cf. Fig. 1. The bed was operated at 550 C at ambient pressure. The bed material was silica sand, with a mean particle diameter of 0:7 mm, a sphericity of 0.8 and a density of 2600 kg=m3 . The bed height at minimum uidization was 0:86 m, with a corresponding voidage estimated at 0.46 (Olowson and Almstedt, 1991). According to the Ergun (1952) correlation, this gives a minimum uidization velocity, Umf , of 0:25 m=s at the present operating temperature.

Fig. 1. Schematic picture of the uidized bed for erosion corrosion testing.

This was conrmed by test rig observations. Hydrodynamic measurements were made for the three excess gas velocities, Uex : 0:15; 0:40 and 0:75 m=s, while the local material wastage was measured only on tubes exposed to the lowest and highest excess gas velocities, at the respective exposure times of 1440 and 504 h. The excess gas velocity is dened as Uex = U Umf , where U is the supercial uidization velocity based on the free bed cross-section. The pressure drop across the air distributor plate for the three excess gas velocities is equal to 0.7, 1.6 and 3:7 kPa, which correspond to 5%, 12% and 26% of the total bed pressure drop. 2.2. Fluid dynamics measurements The local bubble activity (the mean bubble frequency, Nb , the mean pierced bubble length, lb , the mean visible bubble ow rate per unit area, Nb lb , the mean bubble rise velocity, vb , and the mean bubble volume fraction, G) was determined for each operating condition with a capacitance probe. The probe can traverse in the direction parallel to the test tubes, resulting in proles of bubble activity in between target tubes numbers 12 and 15. The proles are assumed to be representative for the bubble activity at the tube surfaces. The parameters were time averaged for a period of 10 min for each operating condition and lengthwise position. The capacitance probe is composed of two vertically displaced needle type capacitors. Each capacitor consists of one coaxial cable, where the outer conductor has been peeled o to expose 6 mm of the center conductor, cf. Fig. 2. When a capacitor is placed in a uidized bed, variations in particle concentration will cause variations in capacitance. These can be converted to variations in voltage with the aid of an oscillator and a reactance converter. Thus, a capacitance

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Fig. 2. Schematic picture of the capacitance probe. Fig. 3. Lengthwise and circumferential angle denitions on the tube.

probe can be used to detect bubbles. The voltage signal was low-pass ltered (hardware) at 40 Hz and recorded at a sampling frequency of 2400 Hz. The mean bubble frequency, Nb , and mean bubble volume fraction, G, are determined from the signal of the lowest positioned capacitor. The distance between the capacitors and the time shift between the two capacitor signals give vb . The mean pierced bubble length, lb , is determined from the duration time of a bubble at a capacitor, times the rise velocity. Finally, the mean visible bubble ow rate Nb lb , is determined as the product of Nb and lb . The technique and evaluation method are further described in Almstedt (1987a) and Olowson and Almstedt (1990). The uctuating pressure p , was determined by measuring the pressure di erence between the uidized bed and the atmosphere. In all locations the pressure was recorded in the center of the bed by a pressure tap inserted in the tube (Fig. 1). To prevent particles from entering the pressure taps, these were oriented perpendicular to the vertical axis. The pressure signal was recorded for 20 min at a sampling frequency, fs , of 200 Hz, and then low-pass ltered (software) at 20 Hz. After subtraction of the mean pressure, the resulting pressure uctuation signal was divided into 58 non-overlapping windows of 4096 samples. Using a fast fourier transform (FFT) with a rectangular window function, the pressure uctuation was then evaluated by calculating the power spectral density (PSD) distribution of each window. The PSD distribution of the pressure uctuation signal, Gpp , was thereafter taken as the average of the distribution from each window and the PSD distribution was normalized by division with 2 fN , where is the standard deviation of the pressure uctuation signal and fN is the Nyquist frequency (fs =2). In this way, the area under all PSD distribution curves presented is equal, which facilitates comparison of frequency content. 2.3. Tube wastage measurements The wastage at the midpoint of the tubes was determined along a vertical line of the bed (tubes 02, 07, 10, 18 and 21) and across the tube bank at one horizontal level (tubes 11, 12 and 13). The lengthwise variation in wastage was determined for one specic tube (tube 12).

To obtain the radial wastage of the tubes along their circumference, the diameter and roundness of each tube were measured before and after exposure at three locations, A, B and C as dened in Fig. 3. The roundness proles were recorded by a roundness measuring instrument (Mitutoyo RA-116). The principle is that a stylus is drawn along the circumference of a rotating tube and the deviation from a perfect circle is recorded. A total of 1800 measuring points were collected for each prole. The diameter measurement was made by a high-precision (1 m) micrometer gauge at every 30th degree along the circumference. By combining the data from the diameter measurements with the roundness prole, the circumference of the tube was described in terms of radii from the tube center before and after exposure. The principle is that the average of the diameter values obtained (for a single tube) is calculated and taken as the diameter of the perfect circle. The recorded radial deviation describing the circumference is then added to this circle. Thus, the circumference is transformed into a description expressed in radii. Finally, the calculation of the radial wastage along the circumference is made by subtracting the determined radii before and after exposure. As the apparent center of the tube may shift somewhat before and after exposure owing to the predominant wastage on the tube underside, the calculation is made under the assumption that both the wastage and the derivative of the wastage prole equals zero at the 0 position (cf. Fig. 3). Under this assumption the accuracy of the evaluation method is better than 5 m. This was conrmed by tube wall thickness reduction measurements on a few precision-made reference tubes with well-dened wall thickness. 3. Results 3.1. Hydrodynamic measurements Figs. 48 show the results of the capacitance probe measurements at the three di erent excess gas velocities, Uex . The mean bubble frequency, Nb , mean pierced bubble length, lb , mean visible bubble ow rate, Nb lb , mean bubble rise velocity, vb , and mean bubble volume fraction, G,

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Fig. 4. Mean bubble frequency, Nb , in between tubes 12 and 15 vs. the tube length axis, x.

Fig. 7. Mean bubble rise velocity, vb , in between tubes 12 and 15 vs. the tube length axis, x.

Fig. 5. Mean pierced bubble length, lb , in between tubes 12 and 15 vs. the tube length axis, x.

Fig. 8. Mean bubble volume fraction, G, in between tubes 12 and 15 vs. the tube length axis, x.

Fig. 6. Mean visible bubble ow rate per unit area, Nb lb , in between tubes 12 and 15 vs. the tube length axis, x.

are given in between target tubes 12 and 15. Coordinate x is dened along the target tubes as shown in Fig. 3. It is clearly seen that an increased uidization velocity results in increased Nb and lb , see Figs. 4 and 5, respectively. Consequently, an increase in Nb lb is also seen, Fig. 6. The mean bubble rise velocity, Fig. 7, does not increase to the same extent as Nb and lb . Thus, the relative increase in G, Fig. 8, is larger, in accordance with relationship Nb lb = Gvb (Almstedt, 1987a). As expected there is a clear redistribution of the bubble ow towards the center of the bed when Uex is increased. The bubble ow redistribution agrees with results obtained in a cold laboratory-scale uidized bed of similar geometry, Olsson et al. (1995) and Wiman and Almstedt (1997). It is seen in the gures that the results are not symmetric around the vertical center line of the bed. This was later shown to be due to a small vertical misalignment ( 0:5 ). Consequently, the bed walls were not quite vertical and the tubes not perfectly horizontal. Some sliding of the bubbles along

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(a)

(b)

air distributor plate. These pressure taps are here further referred to as P1, P2 and P3, respectively. Each of the Fig. 9(ac) show three PSD distributions as recorded for the di erent excess velocities. The peaks obtained at the lowest frequencies ( 0:3 Hz), which are most clearly seen at the bottom of the bed for the lowest excess gas velocity, are assumed not to be a direct result of the bubble behavior in the bed. For the highest Uex , the PSD distribution of the pressure signal from pressure tap P3 shows only one major peak, at 1:1 Hz, indicating a more constrained ow with large bubbles erupting regularly on the surface. This is similar to a uidized bed operating in a single bubble regime (Svensson et al., 1996; Johnsson et al., 2000). The regime is sometimes also referred to as slugging. Compared to the signals obtained from the two lower uidization velocities, the peak is narrower. The peak is also visible in the PSD distributions of the uctuating pressure signal from pressure taps P1 and P2. The PSD distribution of the pressure signal from pressure tap P1 gives only minor peaks for uidization velocities Uex = 0:15 and 0:40 m=s. However, the corresponding PSD distributions of the uctuating pressure measured from pressure taps P2 and P3 show clear peaks at 1.2 and 1:5 Hz for the respective excess gas velocities. The peaks grow in intensity with increasing height above the distributor plate, indicating bubble growth owing to bubble coalescence. In summary, for the case of the highest Uex , the PSD distributions of the pressure signals show that the bed is operating in a single bubble regime throughout the bed. For the two lower excess gas velocities, the PSD distributions show a transition from small multiple bubbles to larger single bubbles with increasing height above the air distributor plate. 3.2. Tube wastage The variation in material wastage with the circumferential angle for the tubes exposed to the lower uidization velocity is presented in Fig. 10. Fig. 10(a) shows the results for ve tubes positioned at di erent heights above the distributor plate along a vertical line (tubes 02, 07, 10, 18 and 21 according to Fig. 1). The measurements were made in position B on the tube surfaces as dened in Fig. 3. The wastage level and angle dependence are similar for the tubes in the upper parts of the bed. The angle dependence shows two wastage maxima at either side of the vertical line on the underside of the tubes. On the other hand, the tube with the lowest position (tube 02) shows less wastage and di erent angle dependence, with only one wastage maximum on the central part of the lower side of the tube. Tube 07, positioned at one-quarter of the bed height, shows a transient behavior in between that of tube 02 and the tubes in the upper part of the bed. The single wastage maximum behavior shown by tube 02 is referred to as Type B behavior, while the

(c)
Fig. 9. Power spectral density distribution of the uctuating pressure signal from pressure taps: (a) P1 at 65 mm above the air inlet; (b) P2 at 305 mm above the air inlet; (c) P3 at 665 mm above the air inlet.

the tubes is thus likely (Meadowcroft et al., 1991; Stringer, 1995). With an increased excess gas velocity, Nb and lb increased to a larger extent in position A compared to position C (Fig. 3). Thus, on comparison, product Nb lb also shows a higher value in position A than in C. Fig. 9(ac) show the PSD distribution of the signals from the pressure taps located 65, 305 and 665 mm above the

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(a)

(b)

(c)
Fig. 10. Wastage proles after exposure at the low excess gas velocity (0:15 m=s): (a) for tubes at di erent heights above the distributor plate; (b) for tubes in the horizontal plane at the mid-height of the bed; (c) along a tube centrally positioned in the bed. The dotted line added to the tube 13 prole in (b) indicates the true wastage, after subtracting the in uence of the local presence of a thick oxide scale.

behavior of the upper tubes with two wastage maxima is of Type A (Stringer et al., 1993). The di erence in these two material wastage proles is, as suggested by MacAdam and Stringer (1995), an e ect of the change in hydrodynamic condition, i.e. a more constrained bubble ow results in a Type A wastage pattern and vice versa. The variation in wastage with tube position in the horizontal plane at the mid-height of the bed is shown in Fig. 10(b) for position B on the tube surface. The tube positioned in the center clearly shows a symmetric wastage prole, while the proles from the two o -center tubes have a skewed appearance and a lower wastage rate. The deviation from symmetry and di erence in wastage rate are attributed to the fact that the bubble ow is not equal over the cross-section but increases towards the vertical center line of the bed. This e ect is also visible in Fig. 10(a), where the wastage at the left-hand side facing the bed center is somewhat higher for all tubes. Fig. 10(c) shows the variation in wastage along tube 12, centrally positioned in the bed. It is clearly seen that the wastage is higher at the central part of the tube, position B, and declines towards the ends, positions A and C (cf. Fig. 3). This is in analogy with the results given in Fig. 10(b). The wastage results from the high uidization velocity exposure are given in Fig. 11. The general appearance of the wastage proles is close to that in the low velocity exposure with some notable exceptions. Fig. 11(a) shows that all tubes exhibit Type A behavior independent of their height position in the tube bank. This is due to the single bubble regime present in the entire bed at the higher excess gas velocity, while, at the lower velocity, a single bubble regime is present only above a certain height in the bed. All tubes exposed at the higher velocity generally show a more distinct Type A behavior, as the relative di erence in wastage between the two maxima and the 180 position is larger. Furthermore, the relative di erence in wastage between the central (position B) and end (positions A and C) parts of the tubes is larger at the higher velocity, cf. Figs. 10(c) and 11(c). This indicates that, in this case, the bubble ow is more concentrated towards the center of the bed, which is in accordance with the capacitance probe results. Independent of velocity and position, some tubes show enhanced wastage around the 90 and 270 positions, cf. Figs. 10 and 11. Assuming, somewhat unrealistically, a totally constrained ow of particles moving up and down just in the vertical direction, the tubes would not exhibit any erosion at all at these grazing impact angles (Bitter, 1963) but only abrasion. In reality, the wastage observed at these angles is due to erosion by particles in oblique motion and abrasion. The e ect of abrasion seems to play a signicant role at position C in Fig. 11(c), where plateaus in the wastage prole are visible around the 90 and 270 positions. The wastage proles in Figs. 10 and 11 have been smoothed in order to improve the visibility of the graphs. Fig. 12 shows the non-smoothed data of Fig. 10(a). From

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(a)

Fig. 12. Non-smoothed wastage proles (tubes 02, 07, 10, 18 and 21) after exposure at the low excess gas velocity (0:15 m=s).

(b)

and 10, where it increased in some areas to about 5 10 m (cf. Fig. 12). Optical microscopy showed that the greater roughness was caused by the growth of a rough oxide. A model describing accelerated oxide growth during particle impact at low velocities (resulting in much thicker oxides than during oxidation only) was developed by Norling and Olefjord (2003). However, for increased particle velocities, the resulting oxide thickness will be lower as a result of increased erosion. Growth of a locally thick but less rough oxide was also found on tube 13. This resulted in an apparently lower wastage between the angles of 225 and 270 (cf. Fig. 10(b)), as the wastage was calculated without subtracting the oxide thickness. For clarity, the true wastage is indicated by a dotted line. The oxide thickness on the other areas and the other tubes is believed to be of the same magnitude as the surface roughness, i.e. 1 m. This is in agreement with an earlier study, where the oxide thickness on tubes exposed to similar conditions was measured by Auger electron spectroscopy (Norling and Olefjord, 2001). 4. Discussion In the present study, hydrodynamics in a bubbling uidized bed operated at elevated temperature was investigated in connection with wastage measurements on steel tubes. By means of capacitance probe analysis the bubble ow characteristics (Nb , lb , Nb lb , vb and G) were determined for each operating condition. Comparing cross-correlation between material wastage and bubble statistics obtained from capacitance probe analysis, Wiman and Almstedt (1997) showed that especially Nb lb and vb are well correlated to the material degradation. Their study was carried out in a cold laboratory-scale uidized bed with stearin-coated target tubes at a number of operating pressures, excess gas velocities and tube bank geometries. As the impact angle dependence is similar for erosion of stearin (Wiman, 1997)

(c)
Fig. 11. Wastage proles after exposure at the high excess gas velocity (0:75 m=s): (a) for tubes at di erent heights above the distributor plate; (b) for tubes in the horizontal plane at the mid-height of the bed; (c) along a tube centrally positioned in the bed.

the three upper proles (tubes 10, 18 and 21) it is seen that the surface roughness at the underside of these tubes is about 1 m. This surface roughness is representative of all tubes exposed to the high uidization velocity and most tubes exposed to the lower. The exceptions are tubes 02, 07

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and normalized steel (Bitter, 1963), the degradation of the materials was assumed to depend on the same parameters. A further justication for this assumption results from this work, as the wastage proles show great similarity to those obtained by Wiman and Almstedt (1997). The tube degradation was measured at the highest and lowest excess gas velocities at three lengthwise positions along all target tubes. The exposure has shown that, at the low excess gas velocity (Uex = 0:1 m=s), there is no signicant di erence in material wastage between positions A and C. However, the material wastage in the center (position B) is considerably higher, even though Nb lb and vb are rather evenly distributed over the cross section. Thus, the higher material degradation must be linked to some other parameter not measured here. One possible explanation is the through- ow of gas in the rising bubbles. The gas will entrain particles, and a jet of particles with a velocity significantly higher than vb will impinge the target tubes, thus increasing the material degradation. Photographs by Almstedt (1987b) of a bubbling uidized bed with sparsely arranged tubes indicate that, for a high excess gas velocity, such jets of particles are concentrated to the center of the bubbles. Furthermore, in the presence of a tube bank, the gas through- ow velocity, vtb , in center of the bubbles is considerable even at a low excess gas velocity (Uex = 0:2 and 0:6 m=s) (Olsson et al., 1995) and decreases with the distance from the bed center, as shown by Wiman (1997). The gas ow through the bed is not uniform when the excess gas velocity is increased. In the central parts of the bed, more gas passes in the form of bubbles and the increase in Nb lb and vb is much larger as compared to the parts close to the walls, where the ow is more constrained. The increase in bubble activity is also somewhat greater in the front of the bed compared to the rear side, although it is smaller than in the center. Consequently, material degradation is observed especially at the central part of the tubes (position B) and is more pronounced in position A than in position C. However, the increase in material wastage in position B as compared to position A is larger than what is suggested by the di erence in Nb lb and vb between these positions. This is suggested to be a result of a higher vtb in the center of the rising bubbles, in a similar way as for the low excess gas velocity. All of the exposed tubes show considerable material wastage around the angles of 90 and 270 . In these positions the impact angle of the incoming particle stream is assumed to be close to 0 , and thus the in uence of erosion is expected to be low. Similar behavior was found in an earlier study by Norling and Olefjord (2001) at the same exposure temperature (550 C) but at a higher excess gas velocity (Uex = 1:1 m=s) and where alumina was used as bed material. The results of Wiman and Almstedt (1997) also showed considerable material wastage in the corresponding positions in the case of a dense tube bank and ambient pressure. However, when less dense tube bank geometries were used, the material wastage at the same angles was almost negligible. The observed increase in material

wastage around the angles of 90 and 270 is suggested to be partly a result of oblique particle impacts. These originate from bubble motion de ection caused by neighboring tubes. It cannot be excluded however that abrasion plays an important role in the material degradation process. Negligible material wastage at the angles of 90 and 270 after exposure in laboratory-scale uidized beds at elevated temperatures has also been reported by Ninham et al. (1990) and MacAdam and Stringer (1995). However, their experimental set-ups were di erent from the one used in the present study. Ninham et al. (1990) used a test rig where cylindrical samples were horizontally rotated in an orbital motion within a uidized bed, and MacAdam and Stringer (1995) used a test rig where cylindrical samples were actuated up and down in a hammering motion within a uidized bed. The very low material wastage around the angles of 90 and 270 in these cases is probably due to the motion of the samples, which causes less erosion by oblique impact, especially since no complete tube banks were present in the beds. The PSD distributions of the uctuating pressure signals (cf. Fig. 9) show that the upper part of the bed operates in a single bubble regime independent of the excess gas velocity. However, in the lower region of the bed, a single bubble regime is developed only at the highest excess gas velocity. At the two lower velocities, a pure uidization regime corresponding to the models given by Svensson et al. (1996) and Johnsson et al. (2000) cannot be identied, suggesting a transient regime consisting of smaller and less distinguishable bubbles. In higher positions in the bed, coalescence into a single bubble occurs. A similar change in uidization regime was detected in PSD distribution measurements and was visually observed by Olsson et al. (1995) when the excess gas velocity was reduced from 0.6 to 0:2 m=s. In this case, the bed had a geometry similar to the one used here but was operated at room temperature. The change in uidization regime in the lower region of the bed, as seen from the PSD distributions, is visible in the wastage proles. At the high excess gas velocity, all tubes show Type A behavior, as dened by Stringer et al. (1993), while, at the lower velocity, the wastage pattern on the bottom tubes changed to Type B. Type B behavior was also observed at room temperature by Wiman and Almstedt (1997) for their most dense tube bank geometry (Uex = 0:2 m=s) and by Zhu et al. (1990) after exposure of brass in a ve-tube bundle (Uex = 1:3 m=s). Type B behavior is usually observed in full-scale power plants, while Type A behavior is most common in narrow laboratory-scale uidized beds. This is due to the constrained ow pattern, as shown by MacAdam and Stringer (1995) and Hou et al. (1997). It is thus suggested that the Type B behavior observed in the lower region of the bed used here, at the lowest excess gas velocity, is a result of erosion from bubbles that are small in comparison to the bed cross-section and not constrained by the bed walls. During coalescence into single bubbles, a more constrained ow pattern develops and the wastage pattern consequently

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changes to become Type A. This is in agreement with the change in uidization regime, as observed in the PSD distributions.

Acknowledgements The nancial support of two Swedish research organizations, HTC (The Swedish High-Temperature Corrosion Center) and KME (Consortium for Material Technology directed towards Thermal Energy Processes), is gratefully acknowledged.

5. Conclusions This work deals with the hydrodynamics in a bubbling uidized bed operated at 550 C and ambient pressure and with its in uence on material wastage of horizontal stainless steel tubes immersed in the bed. It is shown that a characterization of the hydrodynamic behavior is necessary for a proper understanding of the tube degradation. From simultaneous studies of hydrodynamics and material wastage in the present bed, the following conclusions were drawn for the operating conditions used. An increased visible bubble ow rate, Nb lb , and mean bubble rise velocity, vb , as a result of an increased excess gas velocity, Uex , result in a larger material wastage rate. This is the result of the impact of a dense mass of particles in the wake of the bubbles. The spatial distributions of Nb lb and vb over the bed cross-section show, for the highest Uex , the highest bubble activity and thereby the highest material wastage rate in the center of the bed. The bubble activity and material wastage rate decline towards the bed walls. The same variation in wastage is also clearly seen for the lowest Uex , although Nb lb and vb in this case are almost constant over the bed cross-section. It is suggested that the central part of the tubes is subject to substantial erosion by individual particles entrained by the through- ow of gas in the center of the bubbles. An increased excess gas velocity results in a more rapid bubble coalescence, giving a transition into a single bubble regime at all heights. Thereby, the wastage proles change from Type B behavior in the lower part of the bed (and Type A above) to Type A behavior throughout the bed. Notation fs fN G Gpp lb Nb Nb lb p Uex U Umf vb vtb sampling frequency, Hz Nyquist frequency, (fs =2), Hz mean bubble volume fraction, dimensionless. power spectral density distribution, Pa2 s mean pierced bubble length, m mean bubble frequency, Hz mean visible bubble ow rate, m/s uctuating pressure, Pa excess gas velocity, m/s supercial gas velocity, m/s supercial gas velocity at minimum uidization, m/s mean bubble rise velocity, m/s mean gas through- ow velocity in bubbles, m/s standard deviation of the uctuating pressure, Pa

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