Enhancement of chaotic mixing performance in laminar flow with reciprocating and rotating coupled agitator

Abstract

In this study, a reciprocating and rotating coupled agitator was proposed to enhance the quality of the liquid–liquid mixing state in a laminar flow, and validated using experimental and numerical approaches. The effects of impeller amplitude (Ai), impeller reciprocating speed (vi), and impeller hovering time (ti) at a constant rotating speed on the mixing effect were studied. The results showed that the mixing effect of this agitator was much superior to that of a traditional rotating agitator under proper parameters. Under the impeller reciprocating motion, a large-scale vortex is generated under the impeller, which can significantly enhance the mixing effect. The mixing efficiency under the best mixing condition (Ai = 0.05 m, vi = 0.005 m/s, ti = 15 s) in the experiment is 4.71 times than that of the traditional agitator.