Influence of media characteristics on energy dissipation in filter backwashing

Effective cleaning of granular filters during backwashing processes needs maximum turbulence and maximum shear in the fluid particle field. The energy dissipation in a backwashed filter as a particulate fluidized bed arises due to the suspending and random motions of particles and turbulent fluctuations in the bed. Size, density, and sphericity of the filter materials greatly influence the fluidization behavior of the media. In this study, a new model is proposed for predicting the energy dissipation parameters namely the hydrodynamic shear stress (τ_a), the velocity gradient (G _a), the turbulence dissipation coefficient (C_a), and the turbulence parameter (C_a^0.5/Re) in backwashing of filters for different types of filter materials (sand, anthracite, and glass ball). The hydrodynamic shear stress is the dominant mechanism of filter cleaning and appears to increase with increasing the density and size of the filter media particles. Using the basic set of data, a step by step procedure is developed to compute the velocity gradient G_a, the turbulence dissipation coefficient C_a, the hydrodynamic shear stress τ_a, and the turbulent parameter (C_a^0.5/Re).