Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, Vol.85, No.6, 817-824, 2007
LDA velocity measurements of high-viscosity fluids in mixing vessel with vane geometry impeller
The object of this work was to measure the velocity field in non-Newtonian fluids inside mixing vessel. The six-bladed vane rotor used for mixing was designed from rotating vane geometry of a sensor system, commonly used for rheometrical measurements of complex fluids (Barnes and Nguyen, J. Non-Newtonian Fluid Mech. 98, 1-14 (2001); Schramm, 1994). During mixing, the viscosity was determined by measuring the torque at different impeller speeds, and compared to rheologically obtained shear dependent viscosity. The velocity field was determined by LIDA measurements at twelve places inside mixing vessel. It was observed that axial and radial component of the velocity were insignificant at all measurement points. On the other hand, the results showed the periodic nature of tangential component of the velocity, which was confirmed with computer-aided visualization method.