Title: Simulation of suspension of solids in a liquid in a mixing tank using SPH and comparison with physical modelling experiments

Authors: Mahesh Prakash, Paul W. Cleary, Joseph Ha, Mohammed Nabil Noui-Mehidi, Hugh M. Blackburn, Geoff Brooks

Addresses: CSIRO Mathematical and Information Sciences, Clayton, VIC 3169, Australia. ' CSIRO Mathematical and Information Sciences, Clayton, VIC 3169, Australia. ' CSIRO Mathematical and Information Sciences, Clayton, VIC 3169, Australia. ' CSIRO Manufacturing and Infrastructure Technology, Highett, VIC 3190, Australia. ' CSIRO Manufacturing and Infrastructure Technology, Highett, VIC 3190, Australia.' CSIRO Minerals, Clayton, VIC 3169, Australia

Abstract: This paper demonstrates the use of Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) to simulate a suspension of solids in a liquid mixing tank when the solids are large and have a high loading in comparison with the liquid in the tank. The simulations are validated by comparing the results with physical modelling experiments that shows a relationship between the submergence criterion of the solids and the impeller speed. The experiments were conducted using water as the fluid and cylindrical blocks of wood with a specific gravity of 0.5 with near identical conditions being used for the simulations.

Keywords: smoothed particle hydrodynamics; SPH modelling; solid-liquid mixing; pellet submergence; impeller speed; solids loading; simulation; suspension of solids; CFD; computational fluid dynamics.

DOI: 10.1504/PCFD.2007.013001

Progress in Computational Fluid Dynamics, An International Journal, 2007 Vol.7 No.2/3/4, pp.91 - 100

Published online: 03 Apr 2007 *

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