In order to develop predictive process models in conical fluidized beds, there is an ongoing search for experimental methods and simulation tools to measure and model hydrodynamics parameters. Accordingly, experiments carried out in a conical fluidized bed containing micrometric TiO(2) particles with a wide particle size distribution. An optical fiber technique was employed to determine the effect of particles loading on the solid volume fraction. The axial and radial profiles of solid volume fraction have then been determined to evaluate the sensitivity of different models, including Syamlal-O Brien (1988), Arastoopour et al., (1990) and Gidaspow (1994) drag models. The Eulerian-Eulerian model with frictional stress models and three different boundary conditions (BCs), consisting of no-slip, partial-slip and free-slip have been used in the numerical simulations. The Gidaspow model with the partial-slip BC gives the best agreement with experimental data for different particle loadings. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.