Numerical Study On Distributive Mixing Characteristics in a Partially Filled Internal Mixer

Three-dimensional flow simulation had been carried out to investigate distributive mixing characteristics in a tangential batch mixer.  The chamber of the mixer was assumed to be partially filled with isothermal rubber and the fill factor was changed in several steps.  Rubber was treated as generalized Newtonian fluid and its shear viscosity was described by Carreau model.  Rotation speeds of two rotors were kept constant.  Commercial flow analysis software based on finite difference method had been used for the simulation.  Volume of fluid (VOF) method was applied for the analysis of partially filled flow with free surfaces.  We adopted particle tracking method and evaluated distributive mixing degree by uniformity of the number of particles per volume.  It was suggested that the fill factor of the mixer would influence on the extent of distributive mixing.