ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Influence of the vessel shape on the performance of a mechanically agitated system

Mohammed Foukrach, Mohamed Bouzit, Houari Ameur, and Youcef Kamla

University of Sciences and Technology, USTO-MB, Oran, Algeria

E-mail: foukrach@hotmail.com

Abstract: The shape of the tank plays an important role in the hydrodynamic performance of the agitation. A 3D simulation was done using CFD calculation code (CFX16.0). The study was carried out for large Reynolds number: 10⁴–2.10⁵. Navier–Stokes equations governing the phenomenon are solved by a method of discretization finite volume. The turbulence model used is the k–ε standard type. Our main goal was to study the influence of the shape of the tank mechanically agitated by Rushton turbine. Four configurations were used: cylindrical tank, polygon tank without/with baffles (vertical baffle and circular) and circular baffle cut four sides with the same angle. The effect of the shape of the tank and the baffle shape has been studied. Comparing our results seems favorable and gives very good agreement with the experimental results of the literature (Karcz and Major in Chem Eng Process 37:249–256.  https://doi.org/10.1016/S0255-2701(98)00033-6, 1998).

Keywords: Rushton turbine ; Agitation ; Baffles ; Stirred vessel ; Newtonian fluid ; ANSYS CFX code 

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-018-0606-4

Chemical Papers 73 (2) 469–480 (2019)