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Model ID: 3903

Estimating Thermal Dispersion in a Packed Bed

Thermal dispersion in a porous medium results from the combined effects of heat conduction in the fluid and solid phases, and from convective transport in the fluid. In chemical process engineering, the modeling of thermal dispersion is of central importance as the temperature distribution in a catalyst bed controls not only chemical conversion but also the catalyst life-time.

In this model the thermal dispersion coefficients of a packed bed are determined by comparing experimental temperature data with the corresponding simulated results. The parameters are estimated by least-squares minimization, implemented directly in the Optimization application mode of COMSOL Multiphysics.

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