Rotating packed bed has high efficiency of gas–liquid mass transfer. So it is significant to investigate fluid motion in rotating packed bed. Numerical simulations of the effects of packing feature size on liquid flow characteristics in a rotating packed bed are reported in this paper. The particle image velocimetry is compared with the numerical simulations to validate the turbulent model. Results show that the liquid exists in the packing zone in the form of droplet and liquid line

and the cavity is droplet. When the radial thickness of the packing is less than 0.101 m

liquid line and droplets appear in the cavity. When rotational speed and radial thickness of the packing increase

the average diameter of the droplets becomes smaller

and the droplet size distribution becomes uniform. As the initial velocity of the liquid increases

the average droplet diameter increases and the uniformity of particle size distribution become worse. The droplet velocity increases with the radial thickness of the packing increasing

and gradually decreases when it reaches the cavity region. The effect of packing thickness is most substantial through linear fitting. The predicted and simulated values are within ±15%. The cumulative volume distribution curves of the experimental and simulated droplets are consistent with the R-R distribution.