The blade free planetary mixer (BFPM) is a technique of mixture, used in many industries to mix, aerate and synthesize products highly viscous, with a lower degree of contamination as possible. Several improvements were introduced to this technique since its first use, however some scientific shortcomings are still observed. The FBPM have met some mixing issues for certain operating and designing conditions. The objective of this work is to numerically study the dynamics of fluid flow in the FBPM in order to understand and to solve that mixing problem. The analysis is based on solving the conservation equations of mass and of momentum by using the commercial code Fluent. Visualization techniques are used to qualitatively and quantitatively describe the effects of the revolution on the flow dynamics of a fluid which starts with a uniform rotation. The qualitative study shows that the flow is mainly swirl with the presence of three axes of rotation: a primary spin axis, a secondary spin axis and an axis of revolution. The secondary spin axis changes direction with the change of the revolution speed. The qualitative analysis also indicates the existence of singularities in the flow structure beyond certain speed ratios. These singularities appear only on one of the two meridional planes parallel and perpendicular to the revolution arm. The quantitative study establishes a link between the balance of the forces acting on the fluid and the topology of the flow: the Coriolis force is the one that modifies the flow structure for some speed ratios and the force balance forecasts the existence of singular points.
| Date | 11 Aug 2015 |
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| Original language | French |
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| Awarding Institution | - École de technologie supérieure
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| Supervisor | Louis Dufresne (Supervisor) |
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Chergui, N. (Author),
Dufresne (Supervisor),
11 Aug 2015Student thesis: Doctoral thesis › Doctorate in Engineering: Engineering