The simulation of chaotic mixing and dispersion for periodic flows in baffled channels

✍ Scribed by T. Howes; M.R. Mackley; E.P.L. Roberts

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1991
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 827 KB
• Volume: 46
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0009-2509
• DOI: 10.1016/0009-2509(91)87014-4

✦ Synopsis

We report numerically generated flow visualisation simulations for the flow of an incompressible Newtonian fluid within a two-dimensional channel which can contain periodic baffles. For unsteady flows in this geometry a regime of chaotic advection is observed when baffles are present. The unsteadiness takes one of two forms: a "natural" unsteadiness caused by a symmetry breaking instability of the flow, or a "forced" unsteadiness generated by applying an oscillatory component to the flow. This chaotic advection is shown to provide an efficient mixing mechanism and has a number of applications in the process industry. Enhanced transverse mixing is observed which results in increased transfer properties, reduced fouling rates and, in some circumstances, a reduction in axial dispersion, as recently experimentally reported in the literature.