Numerical simulation of turbulent solid–liquid two-phase flow and orientation of slender particles in a stirred tank

Abstract

In this paper, turbulent solid–liquid two-phase flow involving slender particles in a tank stirred by standard Rushton turbines is simulated with two-fluid model using the improved inner–outer iterative method. Standard k – ε model is used to deal with turbulent flow. By comparison with the case of equivalent spherical particles, it is found that the flow field of slender particles is similar to that of spherical particles. The evolution of particle orientation as it follows the liquid flow in a stirred tank is modeled directly from the rigid slender rods revolution equation. Experiments about solid–liquid two-phase flow are also performed in a baffled tank using DPIV (digital particle image velocimetry). All simulation results are compared with experiments. The comparison between simulation and experiments confirms that the results are reliable. The good agreements between simulation and experiments verify the reliability of the methods employed in this paper. The influences of impeller speed on flow field and orientations are also investigated.