Study of hydrodynamics and flow characteristics in a twin‐blade planetary mixer with non‐Newtonian fluids
Jiecai Long, Xiaobin Zhan, Fang Guo, Zhibin Sun, Baojun Shen, Yu He, Xiwen Li
Abstract
Abstract This study aims to characterize the hydrodynamics and flow characteristics in a twin‐blade planetary mixer with non‐Newtonian fluids by using CFD modeling technique. The kneading pressure was recorded using an experimental setup, and a CFD model was verified. The flow characteristics and hydrodynamics in the mixing vessel containing the power‐law fluids were analyzed quantitatively, particularly the influence of the flow behavior index n . Results revealed that as n increased from 0.25 to 1.75, the maximum shear rate decreased from 733 to 120 s −1 and the local apparent viscosity in the kneading regions increased significantly. The maximum kneading pressure and power consumption increased almost exponentially with increasing n . The correlation for the kneading pressure and the correlation for the power consumption were established by introducing the pressure‐oriented effective viscosity μ e‐p , the pressure‐oriented effective shear rate , the improved effective viscosity μ ei and the improved effective shear rate .