Abstract: Shannon entropy(SE) analysis of pressure fluctuation time series was developed to characterize the flow characteristics in a spout-fluid bed coal gasifier cold model with cross section of 300 mm×30 mm and height of 2000 mm.A multi-channel pressure signal acquisition system was established to obtain the pressure fluctuation time series at various bed locations, and a high-resolution digital CCD camera used to record the flow patterns in various operating conditions.The effects of spouting gas velocity and fluidizing gas flow rate on SE were examined. The characteristics of dynamic behavior were discussed according to the operating parameters and SE. SE was found different for different flow patterns, and was used to identify the flow patterns. SE was also found significantly different at various bed locations. It indicated that a spout-fluid bed at a high spouting gas velocity or a high fluidizing gas flow rate showed no periodic nature but chaotic nature since the SE at all bed locations increased sharply and flow instabilities existed.Research results showed that SE analysis could help to understand the complex flow characteristics of spout-fluid beds, providing reference to the engineering of spout-fluid bed coal gasifiers.