Study on the solid-liquid suspension behavior in a tank stirred by the long-short blades impeller

We investigated the solid–liquid suspension characteristics in the tank with a liquid height/tank diameter ratio of 1.5 stirred by a novel long-short blades(LSB) impeller by the Euler granular flow model coupled with the standard k–ε turbulence model. After validation of the local solid holdup by experiments,numerical predictions have been successfully used to explain the influences of impeller rotating speed,particle density, particle size, liquid viscosity and initial solid loading on the solid suspension behavior,i.e. smaller particles with lower density are more likely to be suspended evenly in the liquid with higher liquid viscosity. At a low impeller rotating speed(N), increase in N leads to an obvious improvement in the solid distribution homogeneity. Moreover, the proposed LSB impeller has obvious advantages in the uniform distribution of the solid particles compared with single Rushton turbine(RT), dual RT impellers or CBY hydrofoil impeller under the same power consumption.

Effect of pitched short blades on the flow characteristics in a stirred tank with long-short blades impeller

This work focuses on the design improvement of the long-short blades(LSB)impeller by using pitched short blades(SBs)to regulate the flow field in the stirred vessel.After mesh size evaluation and velocity field validation by the particle image velocimetry,large eddy simulation method coupled with sliding mesh approach was used to study the effect of the pitched SBs on the flow characteristics.We changed the inclined angles of the SBs from 30°to 60°and compared the flow characteristics when the impeller was operated in the down-pumping and up-pumping modes.In the case of down-pumping mode,the power number is relatively smaller and vortexes below the SBs are suppressed,leading to turbulence intensification in the bottom of the vessel.Whereas in the case of up-pumping mode,the axial flow rate in the center increased significantly with bigger power number,resulting in more efficient mass exchange between the axial and radial flows in the whole vessel.The LSB with 45°inclined angle of the SBs in the up-pumping mode has the most uniform distributions of flow field and turbulent kinetic energy compared with other impeller configurations.

Mixing times in single and multi-orifice-impinging transverse(MOIT) jet mixers with crossflow

We study the macromixing behavior of single and multi-orifice-impinging transverse(MOIT) jet mixers with crossflow, in particular, the overall mixing time and the back-splash mixing time of the injected flow with the crossflow, using the PLIF technique. It is found that for a given mixer configuration, there is a critical jet-tocrossflow velocity ratio rcat which the back-splash begins to occur. Further increase in the velocity ratio r leads to sharp increase in the back-splash mixing time, which can offset the intensification of the downstream mixing. The dimensionless overall mixing time decreases as r increases to reach either a plateau or a local minimum, and the corresponding r value represents the optimal velocity ratio roptfor the macromixing. The momentum ratio of the two liquid streams is a key factor determining rcand ropt. For a larger scale mixer, a higher momentum ratio is required to achieve the optimal macromixing with the minimum dimensionless overall mixing time.

Effect of swirling addition on the liquid mixing performance in a T-jets mixer

Swirling addition to the stream is beneficial for the fluid mixing.This work aims to study the mixing process intensification in a conventional T-jets mixer by the swirling addition.After experimental verification by the planar laser-induced fluorescence technique,large eddy simulation with the dynamic kinetic energy sub-grid stress model is used to predict how the swirling strength(in terms of swirling number,S_(w))and swirling directions affect the mixing performance,e.g.the tracer concentration distribution,mixing time,and turbulent characteristics in the T-jets mixers,Predictions show that the swirling strength is the key factor affecting the mixing efficiency of the process.The overall mixing time,τ_(90),can be significantly reduced by increasing S_(w).Vortex analysis shows that more turbulent eddies appear in the collision zone and the turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate increases obviously with the swirling addition.When S_(w) is kept constant,the mixing process can be accelerated and intensified by adding swirling to only one stream,to both streams with the opposite swirling directions,or to both streams with the same swirling directions.Amplification of the mixing process by enlarging the mixer size or increasing the flow rates is also optimized.Thus,this work provides a new strategy to improve the mixing performance of the traditional T-jets mixers by the swirling addition.