The hydrotransport of settling particles using laminar flow as opposed to the more energy‐ and water‐intensive turbulent flow has remained a tentative option for industries due to the complexity in characterizing particle settling dynamics in opaque non‐Newtonian fluids under sheared conditions. To provide insight into this unknown physics, this study focused on viscoelastic shear‐thinning fluids and developed a semi‐empirical model to characterize the batch‐settling dynamics of dilute suspensions (<5 vol% solids concentration) experiencing a shear field. These suspensions consisted of spherical glass microparticles in aqueous xanthan gum solutions. Settling profiles were measured with Electrical Resistance Tomography (ERT) while a motorized belt generated a cross‐shear field. The data acquired by the ERT showed that introducing cross‐shear fields into such suspensions increased settling rates when compared with static settling contexts. Then, a semi‐empirical model describing the “acceleration phase” of the settling process was developed and validated at accuracies between 81% and 97%.

中文翻译：

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粘弹性剪切稀化流体中的剪切沉降：实证研究和模型开发

由于在剪切条件下表征不透明非牛顿流体中的颗粒沉降动力学的复杂性，使用层流而不是能量和水密集型湍流进行沉降颗粒的水力输送仍然是工业界的暂定选择。为了深入了解这一未知的物理现象，本研究重点关注粘弹性剪切稀化流体，并开发了一个半经验模型来表征稀悬浮液（<5 vol% 固体浓度）经历剪切场的批量沉降动力学。这些悬浮液由黄原胶水溶液中的球形玻璃微粒组成。沉降剖面通过电阻断层扫描 (ERT) 进行测量，同时电动皮带产生交叉剪切场。 ERT 获得的数据表明，与静态沉降环境相比，在此类悬浮液中引入交叉剪切场可提高沉降速率。然后，开发了描述沉降过程“加速阶段”的半经验模型并进行了验证，其准确度在 81% 到 97% 之间。