Parametric study of gas−liquid two-phase flow field in horizontal stirred tank

Abstract

Based on Fluent software, the gas−liquid two-phase flow in the horizontal stirred tank was simulated with SST k−ω turbulence model, Eulerian−Eulerian two-fluid model, and multi-reference flame method. The mixing process in the tank was calculated by tracer method. The results show that increasing the rotating speed or gas flow is conducive to a more uniform distribution of the gas phase and accelerates the mixing of the liquid phase. When the rotating speed exceeds 93 r/min, the relative power demand remains basically constant. The change in the inclination angle of the upper impeller has minimal effect on the gas phase distribution. When the inclination angle is 50°, the relative power demand reaches the maximum. An appropriate increase in the impeller distance from the bottom improves the gas holdup and gas phase distribution but increases the liquid phase mixing time.