Abstract
A non-intrusive Planar Laser-Induced Fluorescence(PLIF) technique was applied to study the turbulent mixing process in a Rushton turbine reactor. Instantaneous and ensemble averaged concentration fields was obtained by measuring the fluorescence intensity of Rhodamine B tracer excited by a thin Nd:Yag laser sheet illuminating the whole center plane of the stirred tank. The gray level images captured by a 14-bit cooled CCD camera could be transformed to the local concentration values using a calibration matrix. The dye injection point was selected at the tank wall with three quarter. height (3/4H) from the tank bottom to observe the mixing characteristics in upper bulk flow region. There exist distinct two time scales: the rapid decay of mean concentration after the dye infusion reflects the large scale turbulent mixing while the fellowed slow decay reveals the small scale molecular mixing. The temporal change of concentration variance field conjectures the two sequential processes for the batch type mixing. An inactive column of water is existed above the impeller disk, in which the fluid rotates with the shaft but is isolated from the mean bulk flow.
