(554d) Design Optimization of Contra-Rotating, Baffle-Free Impellers for Maximizing Solid-Liquid Mixing Efficiency

The objective of this study is to use the Taguchi method to manipulate the parameters in the mixer design, which can reduce the number of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation cases, thereby decreasing the total experiment time. In this study, the contra-rotating, baffle-free impeller with the inward flow is studied with various designs of mixers derived from the orthogonal array of Taguchi method. This work is focuses on mixing operations involving solid and liquid phases. Solid particles with specific gravities of 0.866 and 1.050 g.cm^-3 are introduced into CFD simulation. The mixing efficiency with different specific gravities of solid particles is used to find the optimal design. The results show that the impeller clearance is a significant factor on the fluid flow and thus the mixing proficiency. A combination of CFD simulation and Taguchi method can be optimize and characterize the design parameters that affect mixing efficiency, which can be used as a design guideline of for this impeller type.