Computational Fluid Dynamics Analysis of the Suspension of Nonspherical Particles in a Stirred Tank

Abstract

In the present study, the influence of particle shape on the suspension of prismatic α crystals and the needle-like β crystals within the l-glutamic acid polymorphic system was analyzed using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Numerical modeling of the suspension within a stirred tank was performed using Fluent 6.3.26. The RNG k−ε turbulence model and Eulerian multiphase model were used to simulate the suspension of the solid phase. A novel user-defined function (UDF) was employed to calculate the drag induced by the needle-like β particles. The simulation of α and β suspensions was performed. The simulated solids suspension heights were successfully validated against experiments. Further simulations were successfully carried out with combined α and β suspensions.