AbstractIn the present study, effect of internals and other hydrodynamic variables on pressure drop and expansion ratio were examined. The parameters studied include inlet air flow rate, bed height, spacing of internal, column diameter and percentage open area. Disc promoters of three different percentages of open area (48.03%, 55.15%, 66.26%) were used. The pressure drop was found to increase significantly with increase in bed height and decrease with open area of internals. As the spacing was decreased, the pressure drop increased first and then decreased due to effective breaking of bubbles in the presence of internals. The expansion ratio was seen to decrease significantly with decrease in the internal spacing and decrease in open area of internals. Correlations for pressure drop and expansion ratio have been found using dimensional analysis. The calculated values of pressure drop and expansion ratio were compared with experimental values. Several models have been developed using the Artificial Neural...