Mixing of Shear Thinning Fluids in Cylindrical Tanks: Effect of the Impeller Blade Design and Operating Conditions

Abstract

Abstract The 3D flow fields and power consumption within a cylindrical vessel stirred by a rotating turbine are numerically studied. Simulations are performed to determine the impact of changes in operating parameters on the mixing characteristics. Investigations are focused on effects of the impeller blade curvature, shaft speed and impeller rotational direction. The fluid simulated has a shear thinning behavior. Designing the blade in retreat shape seems very promising in term of power consumption since a reduction of Np is obtained with increasing blade curvature. In the positive rotational direction, the retreat bladed impeller yields highly radial flows with less power consumption than the straight bladed impeller. The 45° retreat blade gave an increase in the radial velocity by 39 %, compared with the straight blade. But, a better axial circulation is obtained with the straight blade. The comparison between the positive rotational direction (+w) and the negative rotational direction (–w) cases revealed that, a reduced mixing time can be obtained with a retreat bladed impeller operating in the negative rotational direction (–w), but with further power consumption.