A Comparison of Ansys Fluent and MFiX in Performing CFD-DEM Simulations of a Spouted Bed

Abstract

The CFD-DEM methodology is a popular tool for the study of fluid–particle systems, and there are several programs that permit using it. In this study, we employed it to simulate a pseudo-2D spouted bed, comparing the performance of the programs Ansys Fluent and MFiX. The results are analysed and commented on in terms of both accuracy and computational efforts. Despite the similarity of the setup, MFiX seems to perform significantly better. The similarities and differences between the two programs are discussed in detail, offering useful insights to researchers regarding the selection of one over the other, depending on the application. The better suitability of the Di Felice drag model is confirmed for the device, while it is shown that the effect of the Magnus lift force may be more limited than was shown in a previous study.

Keywords

• gas–solid fluidization
• Eulerian–Lagrangian method
• drag model
• parallelization
• Geldart-D
• fountain height