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The method of characteristics is applied to the nonlinear equations describing two-phase flow in a fluidized bed. The method shows how a small disturbance changes with time and distance and can, eventually, produce a flow discontinuity similar to a shock wave in gases. The parameters entering the analysis are the amplitude of the initial disturbance, the wavelength of the original disturbance, the particulate pressure function, the particulate size, the uniform fluidization voidage, the uniform fluidization velocity, the fluid viscosity, the particulate density, and the fluid density. A parametric study shows that the following factors delay shock formation: a decrease in particulate size, an increase in bed density, an increase in fluid viscosity, and a decrease in particulate density. Experimental data on bubble formation in gas-particulate fluidized beds show that these same factors delay bubble formation. It is concluded, therefore, that the shock front and the bubble front are one and the same thing.

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