Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Dr Steven Wang
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND).
This letter reports on new methods and results for the trajectory visualization and tracking of large inertial particles in a laminar (chaotic) mixing tank. Using specially designed light-emitting capsules, particle orbits were visualized using streak photography to reveal pathlines of capsules moving in the laminar fluid flow. In this report, we present visualization results on unexpected trapping of particles whereby finite-sized particles/capsules can spontaneously localize into the vortex tubes in the laminar stirred system. Once into tubes, large inertial particles move in helical orbits as do the passive particles. Mixing tanks have been in use over a number of centuries but this trapping phenomenon has been consistently ignored. We also measure the three-dimensional position of large inertial particles over time using an externally positioned camera and planar mirror in a calibrated set-up. As the light capsules used in this study give very high contrast even when the fluid is murky, the work provides a sound basis for further research development of measurement techniques for large (industrial) scale flows.
Author(s): Wang S, Stewart R, Metcalfe G
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Chemical Engineering Science
Year: 2016
Volume: 143
Pages: 99-104
Print publication date: 02/04/2016
Online publication date: 01/01/2016
Acceptance date: 23/12/2015
Date deposited: 08/08/2016
ISSN (print): 0009-2509
ISSN (electronic): 1873-4405
Publisher: Elsevier
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ces.2015.12.023
DOI: 10.1016/j.ces.2015.12.023
Altmetrics provided by Altmetric