Using functional analysis for understanding complex 3D processes

The gas-solids flows in dense pneumatic conveying exhibit many interesting features related to their 3- dimensional and unsteady nature. The flows can be investigated by a high-speed video camera or twin-plane electrical capacitance tomography (ECT). In this paper, the results obtained from tomographic measurements are discussed. The data obtained are processed by means of functional analysis to allow a better understanding of the three-dimensional flow behaviour. Such an analysis enables the investigation of the solids behaviour in a turbulent gas-solids flow. This method is based on an approach in which the whole flow is defined as an n-dimensional image vector, which describes the instantaneous and local changes in solids concentration. Elements of this vector are obtained from a sequence of tomographic images. Each element describes changes in solids concentration within a given pixel and is considered as an elementary function (EF). Preliminary results of the behaviour of gas-solids flow by the proposed method are presented. © 2003 International Society for Industrial Process Tomography. All rights reserved.