| Liquid-solid slurry flows are important to many industrial processes such as coal-water transportation, heterogeneous reactors, mining industry, ash transportation, transfer of process slurries in chemical plants, and Biological flows. Although solid-liquid slurry flow has been the focus of extensive research for more than hundred years there is no clear understanding of this complex flow.; The purpose of this work was to study the effect of solid particle concentration on the pressure drop and velocity distribution of slurry flow both theoretically and experimentally.; A numerical model based on the governing equations of solid concentration, liquid and solid velocities was developed. The governing partial differential equations for solid and liquid velocities are obtained from space-time averaged momentum equations. The concentration equation is derived from the general diffusion-dispersion model (or convective diffusion equation). Formulation includes modification of turbulent eddy diffusivity to account for the existence of solid particles in the liquid flow. Finite element method was used for integration of the governing differential equations.; This model, and the associated numerical program, is able to predict the mixture velocity distribution, the solid concentration profile and the pressure drop. This numerical code can be used for either model testing or for design purposes.; The numerical results were compared with experimental data of three different slurries and were found to be in good agreement with each other.; A correlation for predicting the pressure drop as a function of some nondimensional parameters was derived based on the experimental data.; A Laser Doppler Anemometer based test facility to study solid-liquid slurry flow using the refractive index matching technique has been modified and used. Silica gel particles having a mean diameter of 48 microns and sodium iodide solution (refractive index {dollar}cong{dollar} 1.4429) are used as the refractive index matched solid and liquid, respectively.; Tests were conducted for volumetric solid concentration levels of 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, and 25% in a one inch diameter pipe. Measurements included mapping of flow velocities and obtaining the pressure drop for different flow patterns (modes). |
