Stirred Vessels

The Colorful Fluid Mixing Gallery

This image shows experimental data for the vorticity distribution in a stirred vessel. The data was taken using a digital particle image velocimetry system. It shows one snapshot in time. The flow field is unstable and exhibits long time scale variations.

[vorticity]

This image shows the trailing vortices behind the blades of a Rushton style impeller.

This image shows the velocity magnitude in a plane below an impeller. The fluid is viscous and the Reynolds number is approximately 10. The calculations were performed using a sliding mesh model. This image was created in cooperation with Dr. Richard D. LaRoche at SGI/Cray. The simulation was performed using Fluent from Fluent, Inc., and the image was created using EnSight from CEI, Inc.

[pitched blade turbine]

This image shows streaklines in a stirred vessel. The color denotes the time, with dark blue being time zero and red being near the end of the simulation.

[streaklines]

Solids suspension, the mixing of a solid into a liquid, is a common occurrence in the process industries. Examples are crystallization, and leaching of minerals in mining applications. This image shows the solids distribution in a stirred tank, with a single impeller drawing 3.5 kW on the left, and with three impellers drawing a total of 2.3 kW on the right. The solids are more uniformly suspended with the three impeller system, despite the lower power draw. The simulations were performed using proprietary Ghost! software.

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Last Updated April 10, 1998 by André Bakker