• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.289-297
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• 2009

We numerically analyzed flow characteristics of the polymer melt in the screw equipment using a proper modeling and investigated design parameters which have influence on the mixing performance as the capability of the screw equipment. We considered the non-Newtonian and non-isothermal flow in a single rotor equipment to investigate the mixing performance with respect to screw dimensions as shape parameter of the single rotor equipment and screw speed as process parameter. We used Bird-Carreau-Yasuda model as a viscous model of the polymer melt and the particle tracking method to investigate the mixing performance in the screw equipment and considered four mixing performance indexes: residence time distribution, deformation rate, total strain and particle standard deviation as a new mixing performance index. We compared these indexes to determine design parameters and object function. On basis of the analysis results, we carried out the optimal design by using the response surface method and design of experiments. In conclusion, the differences of results between the optimal value and numerical analysis are about 5.0%.

• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.143-151
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• 2006

We analyzed the non-Newtonian and non-isothermal flow in a single screw extruder system and investigated the mixing performance with respect to the screw speed and the screw pitch. The viscosity of polymer melt was described with Carreau-Yasuda model. The mixing performance was computed numerically by tracking the motions of particles in the screw element system. The extent of mixing was characterized in terms of the deformation rate, the residence time distribution, and the strain. The results revealed that the high screw speed reduces the residence time but increases the deformation rate while the small screw pitch increases the residence time. It is concluded that the high screw speed increases the dispersive mixing performance and the small screw pitch increases the distributive mixing performance.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.441-452
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• 2015

Twin-screw kneader is an efficient polymer processing equipment. In this paper, the mixing performance of one novel intermeshing counter-rotating twin-screw kneader with different tip angles of the male rotor is simulated using the mesh superimposition technique (MST). Statistical analysis is carried out for the flow field using particle tracking technique, and distributive mixing performance is evaluated using the residence time distribution and segregation scale, while the dispersive mixing performance is estimated using the parameters such as shear rate, stretching rate and mixing index. The results show that the best distributive mixing performance is achieved when the tip angle is 0o, while the optimal dispersive mixing performance is obtained when the tip angle is 20o. The results in this paper provide a data basis for the selection of parameters and optimization of the performance for the screw rotors.

• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.153-160
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• 2006

We analyzed the non-Newtonian and non-isothermal flow with Carreau-Yasuda viscosity model in co-rotating and counter-rotating twin screw extruder systems. The mixing performances with respect to the screw speed, the screw pitch, and the rotating direction have been investigated. The dynamics of mixing was studied numerically by tracking the motions of particles. The extent of mixing was characterized in terms of the deformation rate, the residence time distribution, and the average strain. The results showed that the high screw speed decreases the residence time but increases the deformation rate. Small screw pitch increases the residence time. It is concluded that the high screw speed increases the dispersive mixing performance, while the small screw pitch increases the distributive mixing performance. Co-rotating screw extruder has the better conveying performance and the distributive mixing performance than counter-rotating screw extruder with the same screw speed and pitch. Co-rotating screw extruder developed faster transport velocity and it is advantageous the flow characteristics to the mixing that transfers polymer melt from one barrel to the other barrel.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.10
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• pp.3775-3786
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• 2023

Mixing Vane Grid (MVG) is one of the most important structures in fuel assembly due to its high performance in mixing the coolant and ultimately increasing Critical Heat Flux (CHF), which avoids the temperature rising suddenly of fuel rods. To evaluate the mixing performance of the MVG, a Total Diffusion Coefficient (TDC) mixing coefficient is defined in the subchannel analysis code. Conventionally, the TDC of the spacer grid is obtained from the combination of experiments and subchannel analysis. However, the processing of obtaining and determine a reasonable TDC is much challenging, it is affected by boundary conditions and MVG geometries. In is difficult to perform all the large and costing rod bundle tests. In this paper, the CFD method was applied in TDC analysis. A typical 5 × 5 MVG was simulated and validated to estimate the mixing performance of the MVG. The subchannel code was used to calculate the TDC. Firstly, the CFD method was validated from the aspect of pressure drop and lateral temperature distribution in the subchannels. Then the effect of boundary conditions including the inlet temperature, inlet velocities, heat flux ratio between hot and cold rods and the arrangement of hot and cold rods on MVG mixing and TDC were studied. The geometric effects on mixing are also carried out in this paper. The effect of vane pattern on mixing was investigated to determine which one is the best to represent the grid's mixing performance.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.227-234
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• 2010

Numerical analyses have been performed to investigate the effects of geometric parameters of a straight groove micromixer on mixing performance and pressure drop. Three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations with two working fluids, water and ethanol have been used to calculate mixing index and pressure drop. A parametric study has been carried out to find the effects of the number of grooves per cycle, arrangement of patterned walls, and additional grooves in triangular dead zones between half cycles of grooves. The three arrangements of patterned walls in a micromixer, i.e., single wall patterned, both walls patterned symmetrically, and both walls patterned asymmetrically, have been tested. The results indicate that as the number of grooves per cycle increases the mixing index increases and the pressure drop decreases. The microchannel with both walls patterned asymmetrically shows the best mixing performance among the three different arrangements of patterned walls. Additional grooves confirm the better mixing performance and lower pressure drop.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.63-69
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• 2004

It is of great interest to enhance mixing performance in a microchannel in which the flow is usually characterized as a low Reynolds number (Re) so that good mixing is quite difficult to be achieved in this laminar flow regime. In this regard, we present a new chaotic passive micromixer, named Barrier Embedded Micromixer (BEM), of which the mixing mechanism is based on chaotic flows. In BEM, chaotic flow is induced by periodic perturbation of the velocity field due to periodically inserted barriers along the channel wall while a helical type of flow is obtained by slanted grooves on the bottom surface of the channel in the pressure driven flow. To experimentally compare the mixing performance, a T-microchannel and a microchannel with only slanted grooves were also fabricated. All microchannels were made of PDMS (Polydimethylsiloxane) from SU-8 masters that were fabricated by conventional photolithography. Mixing performance was experimentally characterized with respect to an average mixing intensity by means of color change of phenolphthalein as pH indicator. It was found that mixing efficiency decreases as Re increases for all three micromixers. Experimental results obviously indicate that BEM has better mixing performance than the other two. Chaotic mixing mechanism, suggested in this study, can be easily applied to integrated microfluidic systems , such as Micro-Total-Analysis-System, Lab-on-a-chip and so on.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.132-137
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• 2015

The effects of the mixing of an active material and a conductive additive on the electrochemical performance of an electric double layer capacitor (EDLC) electrode were investigated. Coin-type EDLC cells with an organic electrolyte were fabricated using the electrode samples with different ball-milling times for the mixing of an active material and a conductive additive. The ball-milling time had a strong influence on the electrochemical performance of the EDLC electrode. The homogeneous mixing of the active material and the conductive additive by ball-milling was very important to obtain an efficient EDLC electrode. However, an EDLC electrode with an excessive ball-milling time displayed low electrical conductivity due to the characteristic change of a conductive additive, leading to poor electrochemical performance. The mixing of an active material and a conductive additive played a crucial role in determining the electrochemical performance of EDLC electrode. The optimal ball-milling time contributed to a homogeneous mixing of an active material and a conductive additive, leading to good electrochemical performance of the EDLC electrode.

• 한국전산유체공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.04a
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• pp.53-57
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• 2007

The quality of chaotic mixing in square cavity flow was studied numerically by CFD simulation and particle tracking technique. The chaotic mixing was generated by using time-periodic electro-osmotic flow. Finite Volume Method (FVM) was employed to get the stretching and folding field in cavity domain. With adjusting the initial condition of concentration distribution, the best values of modulation period and Peclet number which gave us good mixing performance was determined precisely. From $Poicar{\acute{e}}section$and Lyapunov exponents for characteristic trajectories we find that mixing performance also depends on modulation period. The higher value of modulation period, the better mixing performance wag achieved in this case. Furthermore, the results for tracking particle trajectories were also compared between using of Bilinear Interpolation and Higher-order scheme. The values of modulation period for obtaining best mixing effect were matched between using FVM and particle tracking techniques.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.30 no.1 s.244
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• pp.32-41
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• 2006

We analyzed the non-Newtonian and non-isothermal flow in the melt conveying zone in co-rotating and counter-rotating screw extruder system with the commercial code, STAR-CD, and compared the mixing performance with respect to screw speed and rotating direction. The viscosity of fluid was described by power-law model. The dynamics of mixing was studied numerically by tracking the motion of particles in a twin screw extruder system. The extent of mixing was characterized in terms of the residence time distribution and average strain. The results showed that high screw speed decreases the residence time but increases the shear rate. Therefore higher screw speed increases the strain and has better mixing performance. Counter-rotating screw extruder system and co-rotating screw extruder has the similar shear rate with the same screw speed in spite of different rotating direction. However, the counter-rotating screw has good mixing performance, which is resulted from longer residence time than that of co-rotating screw extruder.