Abstract The mixing characteristics of complex non-Newtonian fluids in a cylindrical vessel without baffles are determined in this paper. The working fluid has a shear thinning behavior with yield stress modeled by the Hershel-Bulkley model. Effects of the impeller design are explored; it concerns some modifications in the blade of a Rushton turbine mounted centrally at the half of the tank. Different shapes of cuts have been introduced in the blade of impeller, namely: U-, 2U-, V- and W-cuts. We focus on the determination of flow patterns, cavern size and power consumption for various shapes and Reynolds numbers. The obtained results revealed that the cut introduced in the blade gives a reduction in power consumption accompanied with a reduction in cavern size than that obtained with the plain blade. The best compromise between energy saving and well-mixed region size allows to select the impeller with V- or W-cut blade as the best one from all cases studied.

中文翻译：

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用于混合粘塑性流体的 Rushton 涡轮机的改进

摘要 本文研究了复杂非牛顿流体在无挡板圆柱容器中的混合特性。工作流体具有剪切稀化行为，屈服应力由 Hershel-Bulkley 模型建模。探索了叶轮设计的影响；它涉及对安装在油箱一半中央的 Rushton 涡轮叶片的一些修改。在叶轮的叶片中引入了不同形状的切口，即：U-、2U-、V-和W-切口。我们专注于确定各种形状和雷诺数的流动模式、洞穴大小和功耗。获得的结果表明，与普通刀片相比，刀片中引入的切割降低了功耗，同时腔体尺寸也减小了。