Study of Mixing Flow
Our work includes experimental and numerical study of different type of mixers used in chemical industry, such as HEV static mixer, tee mixer, and stirred tank, that produces turbulent mixing.
High-efficiency HEV Static Mixer
This mixer is characterized by low-profile, tab geometry that produces controlled vortex structures for low-viscosity, liquid-liquid blending processes.
In LFD lab, particle image velocimetry (PIV) and direct numerical simulation (DNS) are employed to study the vortex structures in the wake of a trapezoidal-shaped tab.[seeStudy of Tab Wake Using Time-series PIV and Study of Tab Flow Using DNS]
Holographic PIV (HPIV) is also used to observe the instantaneoud 3D vortex structures. Based on the experimental and numerical results, a conceptual model of coherent structures has been proposed.
Tee Mixer
This mixer is a side-entry turbulent jet mixer. When the jet is injected radially into the pipe, the jet-induced eddies quickly decrease the scale of segregation through turbulent convection and diffusion. After a certain distance downstream, the mixing is dominated by the turbulence of pipe flow and the scale of segregation is further decreased.
As a collaboration with the Dow Chemical company, we built an industrious-size tee mixer flow facility and conducted PLIF/PIV study of the mixing in the near field of tee mixer. [see Experimental Study of Mixing in a Tee Mixer Using PIV and PLIF]