A Fluid-Mixing Laboratory for ChE Undergraduates
Abstract
Mixing experiments have been developed for the undergraduate unit operations laboratory to provide a practical introduction on mixing operations. The experiments are designed so that the students characterize the effects of impeller speed and the type of discharge on mixing time and the power consumption with Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids. Dimensional analysis is used to process the results, and the effective shear rate in the vicinity of the impeller is determined by means of the Metzner-Otto concept. The laboratory setup is based on a benchtop mixing system provided with axial flow and radial flow impellers.