Experimental study on the dynamics of gas-fluidized beds

Gas-fluidized fine powders display three regimes of fluidization: solidlike, fluidlike, and bubbling. We investigate, from both macroscopic and local measurements, the transition between these regimes. We show that the transition between the solidlike and the fluidlike regimes takes place along an interval of gas velocities in which transient active regions alternate with transient solid networks. Although in the apparently homogeneous fluidlike regime large amplitude bubbles are not perceived and the bed expands continuously with increasing gas flow, optical probe local measurements show the existence of mesoscale pseudoturbulent structures and short-lived voids, reminiscent of liquid-fluidized beds behavior, and whose characteristic temporal frequency increases with gas velocity. These mesostructures might be responsible for the fast diffusion measured in gas-fluidized beds.