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Volume 117
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Coarse-grained CFD-DEM study of gas-particle flow in solid propellant microthruster
Kaiwei Chu a *, Yandong Zhao b, Yimin Wei a, Sajjad Hussain a, Zeyong Yan b, Zhiwei Shi b, Yao Liu a, Zhiming Chen a, Wenjing Yang c, Peijin Liu c *, Yuqing Feng d
a School of Qilu Transportation, Shandong University, Jinan, 250061, China
b Inner Mongolia Institute of Dynamical Machinery, Huhehaote, 010010, China
c School of Aeronautics, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, 710072, China
d Mineral Resources Business Unit, CSIRO, Clayton, VIC, 3169, Australia
10.1016/j.partic.2026.07.004
Volume 117, October 2026, Pages 41-59
Received 30 April 2026, Revised 24 June 2026, Accepted 6 July 2026, Available online 15 July 2026, Version of Record 22 July 2026.
E-mail: k.chu@sdu.edu.cn; liupj@nwpu.edu.cn
Highlights

• A CG CFD-DEM model is developed for gas-particle microthruster flows.

• Intense particle-particle and particle-wall interaction regions are predicted.

• Particles of different sizes have different behaviours and effects on gas flow.

• Particle mass fraction has an obvious effect on the centerline Mach number.


Abstract

A coarse-grained computational fluid dynamics-discrete element method (CG CFD-DEM) model is developed to investigate gas-solid flow in solid propellant microthrusters, with consideration of particle-particle, particle-wall and particle-gas interactions. The coarse-grained model is first compared with the conventional CFD-DEM model, showing comparable predictions with significantly reduced computational cost and less than 10% error in the axial Mach number. The validated model is then used to examine the effects of particle size and particle loading on gas-particle flow behaviour. The results show that particle size and loading have a clear influence on particle velocities, gas-solid momentum exchange, pressure loss, and Mach number distribution. Smaller particles exhibit better gas-following ability and generate a larger overall drag force at the same particle mass flow rate because of the increased particle number. Reducing the particle size from 20 to 2 μm decreases the peak centerline Mach number by nearly 48%. Meanwhile, decreasing the particle mass fraction from 14% to 1% increases the centerline Mach number to nearly four times its original value. The present work demonstrates that the CG CFD-DEM approach provides a reliable and computationally efficient framework for simulating dense gas-particle flows in complex propulsion environments.

Graphical abstract
Keywords
Solid propellant microthruster; Gas-particle flow; Computational fluid dynamics; Discrete element method; Coarse-grained modelling
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