Predicting blending efficiency using only key flow properties--The next step in blender design

Blending is a fundamental and crucial process used in industry. Despite the numerous years spent studying blending it is still a poorly understood phenomenon. The difficulty arises due to the fact that blending is a convoluted process involving material properties, blender geometry and operational parameters. We devised a method of uncoupling them from one another to see the impact that material properties has on the blending process. Two continuous models are proposed that predicts blending for a rotary shell blender for a mixture consisting of components of the same physical properties. The first model assumes a parabolic shape for the plastic region where the thickness at the center is based on material properties and assumes the velocity profile within the plastic region is an exponential one. The second model utilizes the method of characteristics to determine the morphology and velocity profile of the plastic region based on material properties. Simulations were performed at various cohesion values to ascertain its effect on blending. The simulations were compared with experiments where a binary mixture of sand of the same physical properties was blended in a rotary shell blender at various cohesion values.