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Volume 114
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Pathway analogy for computational fluid dynamics simulations of fluid flow through structured packed beds (Open Access)
Maxim Nikitin b, Dmitry Pashchenko a b *
a Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Technion — Israel Institute of Technology, Technion City, Haifa, 3200003, Israel
b Department of Mechanical Engineering (Robotics) and MATEC, Guangdong Technion — Israel Institute of Technology, Guangdong, Shantou, 515063, China
10.1016/j.partic.2026.04.012
Volume 114, July 2026, Pages 384-393
Received 14 February 2026, Revised 8 April 2026, Accepted 14 April 2026, Available online 27 April 2026, Version of Record 14 May 2026.
E-mail: dmitry.pa@technion.ac.il; dmitry.pashchenko@gtiit.edu.cn
Highlights

• Novel pathway analogy decomposes structured packed bed flow.

• Cross-flow between pathways is negligible (<1%).

• Universal friction factor correlations independent of particle size.

• Mechanistic model sums weighted pathway contributions.

• Validated against experimental data across wide Re range.


Abstract

Predicting pressure drop in structured packed beds is critical for the design of industrial chemical reactors and heat exchangers. While particle-resolved Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) offers high fidelity, its prohibitive computational cost for large-scale systems necessitates efficient modeling strategies. This study introduces a novel pathway analogy for fluid flow through structured packed beds in a simple cubic arrangement. The approach deconstructs the complex interstitial flow field into a finite set of discrete, hydraulically independent pathways—classified as full, half, or quarter based on their proximity to the container walls. High-fidelity CFD simulations confirm that cross-flow between these pathways is negligible ( < 1%) both in laminar and turbulent regimes, justifying their treatment as independent flow units. Universal correlations for the friction factor and a normalized pressure drop are derived for each pathway type as a function of Reynolds number, demonstrating negligible dependence on particle diameter. These foundational correlations are synthesized into a mechanistic engineering model that reconstructs the total pressure drop for a bed of any dimension by summing the weighted contributions of all individual pathways. The model is rigorously validated against experimental data from the literature, showing strong agreement across a wide range of Reynolds numbers and bed configurations. This pathway analogy provides a robust, physics-based framework for drastic computational domain reduction, offering a valuable tool for the efficient design and scaling of structured packed bed systems.

Graphical abstract
Keywords
Packed beds; Computational fluid dynamics; Pressure drop; Structured packings; Pathway analogy
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