(597a) On the Joint Use of Simulation and Experimentation to Clarify Solid-Liquid Mixing Behavior

Solid-liquid mixing processes are commonly used in a wide range of industries for the production of consumer goods such as pastes, paints, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and food products. Despite this importance, the determination of optimal process operating conditions that lead to the desired properties for the suspensions to be produced remains difficult task. To shed light on this issue related to solid-liquid mixing, simulation and experimental work is essential.

Many examples are presented here to illustrate what has been done in our research group in recent years to better understand solid-liquid mixing through the development of simulation models and pressure-based experimental techniques. These models are based on a so-called unresolved CFDDEM strategy that combines CFD techniques for the fluid flow and the discrete element method (DEM) for the particle dynamics. The experimental techniques are extensions of the pressure gauge technique, whereby pressure variations are measured at different heights throughout the tank by the use of pressure sensors. While the focus is on non-dilute solid-liquid mixing in a stirred tank provided with a pitched-blade turbine in the laminar, transitional and turbulent regimes, results obtained in the case of close-clearance impellers are also discussed.