Abstract: When investigating the hydrodynamic behavior of gas–solid flow systems, there are several options for the drag function, viscosity model, and other parameters. The low accuracy obtained with a random trial and error modeling strategy has led researchers to develop new drag models that are fine-tuned for their specific studies. However, besides the drag functions, an appropriate viscosity model together with radial distribution function have a great impact on the hydrodynamic modeling of fluidized beds. In this study, a detailed validation and verification task is conducted using three different experimental datasets to derive a modeling strategy for predicting hydrodynamic behavior in dense to dilute flow regimes of various fluidized beds. For this purpose, the steady-state Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations are solved in a finite volume scheme using the twoPhaseEulerFoam solver in the OpenFOAM 2.1.1 software. A comparative study of different drag and viscosity models enables an optimal modeling strategy to be determined for the accurate prediction of the bed pressure drop, bed expansion ratio, time-averaged solid hold-up, and bed height in various dense and dilute flow regimes. Our results show that the modeling strategy prescribed in this study is widely applicable for identifying the hydrodynamic characteristics of various gas–solid fluidized beds with different operating conditions.