Mixing laboratory simulant fluids

In experimental work at the Texas Electric laboratory this relationship has been established (1). The work reported applied to fluids in turbulent flow and hence to relatively high velocities. Since that time the studies have been extended to lower velocities. To support thin membranes, a pierced, corrugated material was placed in the streams with the corrugations in the direction of flow, in a manner to cause the smallest pressure drop this obstruction induced strong mixing and simulated turbu-... 

It is often not practical to use actual process fluids in the mixing laboratory, as this can involve the use of expensive and obstructive safety precautions as well as inconvenient temperatures and pressures. To avoid these problems, suitable simulant fluids must be found that will behave in a manner representative of the process fluid in the laboratory mixer. It should be noted that the simulant fluid must have the correct rheological properties for the scale at which the measurements are to be made. This is not necessarily the same as simply having the same properties as the fluid in the process for example, if it is non-Newtonian. 

Mixing properties and flow fields in stirred tanks are usually studied on a laboratory scale. Practical scale-up of a stirred tank cannot be performed requiring that every individual mixing and fluid mechanical parameters in the small scale tank should be maintained in the larger one. Therefore, scale-up procedures for different types of processes have been determined through experience, testing and computational fluid dynamics simulations. 

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