The liquid superficial velocity L in m3/(m2s) is the liquid flow rate for the whole column divided by

its whole cross-section.

The liquid holdup Hh is the volume of the liquid in the packing related to the whole packing
volume. Its value is important for strength calculation of the support grid of the column, and especially
for determination of the residence time for the liquid phase, a value very important for thermo-unstable
liquids.
The liquid holdup is the fraction of liquid held up in packed column. The volume of liquid holdup volume
is often needed for calculating packed bed support beam loadings as well as for determining how much
liquid drains to the bottom of a tower when the vapor rate is stopped .
The total liquid holdup Hh consists of two components: static and dynamic liquid holdups.
The static holdup Hs is this part of the holdup which remains in the packing because of the capillary
forces when the irrigation is stopped. It depends on the wettability of the packing, the surface tension and
density of the liquid and increases with the packing specific surface.
The dynamic holdup Hd is the difference between total and static holdup of the packing. It is the
liquid in the packing held by the resistance forces. In case of large industrial packings, and they are more
important, the value of the static holdup is to be neglected.
The dynamic holdup increases with the liquid superficial velocity and packing surface, and
decreases with increasing of the liquid density.
The superficial gas velocity wo, in m/s, is the average value of the gas velocity defined as volumetric
gas flow rate related to 1 m2 of the whole cross-section of the column.
Because the cross-section of the irrigated packing is smaller than that of the dry one with the holdup, the
real gas velocity in this case is calculated by:

The packing void fraction is the volume of the free space of the packing related also to 1 m3 of its
volume.
The liquid phase influences the hydrodynamics of the gas phase in two different ways. The first of them is
by the liquid holdup, according to Eq. (5) it leads to increasing of the gas velocity. The second one is
because the pressure drop is connected directly not with the gas velocity, but with its relative value equal
to the gas velocity wo only in case of dry packing. In case of irrigated packing, it is the algebraic sum of
the gas velocity and the liquid velocity at the contact surface with the gas phase. That is why there is a
difference in the influence of the liquid phase on the gas hydrodynamics for co-current and countercurrent
flow. Because usually the gas velocity is many times greater than the liquid one, in many cases the second
effect can be neglected.
As liquid rate raised, the liquid occupies some cross sectional area, making the openings for gas flow
smaller.

For comparison of the hydrodynamics of different packings based on data obtained with different
systems, usually instead of the gas velocity wo, the gas capacity factor is used defined by the equation

ASPEN BATCH PROCESS DEVELOPER