Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-dnltx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T13:38:05.530Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Sedimentation of particles in polymer solutions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2006

Yaoqi Joe Liu
Affiliation:
Department of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics, University of Minnesota, 107 Akerman Hall, 110 Union Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
Daniel D. Joseph
Affiliation:
Department of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics, University of Minnesota, 107 Akerman Hall, 110 Union Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA

Abstract

In this paper, we present detailed and systematic experimental results on the sedimentation of solid particles in aqueous solutions of polyox and polyacrylamide, and in solutions of polyox in glycerin and water. The tilt angles of long cylinders and flat plates falling in these viscoelastic liquids were measured. The effects of particle length, particle weight, particle shape, liquid properties and liquid temperature were determined. In some experiments, the cylinders fall under gravity in a bed with closely spaced walls. No matter how or where a cylinder is released the axis of the cylinder centres itself between the close walls and falls steadily at a fixed angle of tilt with the horizontal. A discussion of tilt angle may be framed in terms of competition between viscous effects, viscoelastic effects and inertia. When inertia is small, viscoelasticity dominates and the particles settle with their broadside parallel or nearly parallel to the direction of fall. Normal stresses acting at the corners of rectangular plates and squared-off cylinders with flat ends cause shape tilting from the vertical. Cylinders with round ends and cone ends tilt much less in the regime of slow flow. Shape tilting is smaller and is caused by a different mechanism to tilting due to inertia. When inertia is large the particles settle with their broadside perpendicular to the direction of fall. The tilt angle varies continuously from 90° when viscoelasticity dominates to 0° when inertia dominates. The balance between inertia and viscoelasticity was controlled by systematic variation of the weight of the particles and the composition and temperature of the solution. Particles will turn broadside-on when the inertia forces are larger than viscous and viscoelastic forces. This orientation occurred when the Reynolds number Re was greater than some number not much greater than one in any case, and less than 0.1 in Newtonian liquids and very dilute solutions. In principle, a long particle will eventually turn its broadside perpendicular to the stream in a Newtonian liquid for any Re > 0, but in a viscoelastic liquid this turning cannot occur unless Re > 1. Another condition for inertial tilting is that the elastic length λU should be longer than the viscous length ν/U where U is the terminal velocity, ν is the kinematic viscosity and λ = ν/c2 is a relaxation time where c is the shear wave speed measured with the shear wave speed meter (Joseph 1990). The condition M = U/c > 1 is provisionally interpreted as a hyperbolic transition of solutions of the vorticity equation analogous to transonic flow. Strong departure of the tilt angle from θ = 90° begins at about M = 1 and ends with θ = 0° when 1 < M < 4.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1993 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ambari, A., Deslouis, C. & Tribollet, B. 1984 Coil-stretch transition of macromolecules in laminar flow around a small cylinder. Chem. Engng Commun. 29, 6378.Google Scholar
Armour, S. J., Muirhead, J. C. & Metzner, A. B. 1984 Filament formation in viscoelastic fluids. In Advances in Rheology. Vol. 2, Fluids (ed. B. Mena, A. Garcia-Bejon & C. Rangel-Nafaile), pp. 143151. Universidad Nacional Autónoma De México.
Beavers, G. S. & Joseph, D. D. 1975 The rotating rod viscometer. J. Fluid Mech. 69, 475511.Google Scholar
Brunn, P. 1977 The slow motion of a rigid particle in a second-order fluid. J. Fluid Mech. 82, 529550.Google Scholar
Chiba, K., Song, K. & Horikawa, A. 1986 Motion of a slender body in quiescent polymer solutions. Rheol. Acta 25, 380388.Google Scholar
Cho, K., Cho, Y. I. & Park, N. A. 1992 Hydrodynamics of a vertically falling thin cylinder in non-Newtonian fluids. J. Non-Newtonian Fluid Mech. 45, 105145.Google Scholar
Coleman, B. D. & Noll, W. 1960 An approximation theorem for functionals, with applications in continuum mechanics. Arch. Rat. Mech. Anal. 6, 355370.Google Scholar
Cox, R. G. 1965 The steady motion of a particle of arbitrary shape at small Reynolds numbers. J. Fluid Mech. 23, 625643.Google Scholar
Crochet, M. J. & Delvaux, V. 1990 Numerical simulation of inertial viscoelastic flow, with change of type. In Nonlinear Evolution Equations that Change Type (ed. B. Keyfitz & M. Shearer). IMA Vol. 27, pp. 4766. Springer.
Fraenkel, L. E. 1988 Some results for a linear, partly hyperbolic model of viscoelastic flow past a plate. In Material Instabilities in Continuum Mechanics and Related Mathematical Problems (ed. J. M. Ball), pp. 137146. Clarendon.
Fraenkel, L. E. 1991 Examples of supercritical, linearized, viscoelastic flow past a plate. J. Non-Newtonian Fluid Mech. 38, 137157.Google Scholar
Goldshtik, M. A., Zametalin, V. V. & Shtern, V. N. 1982 Simplified theory of the near-wall turbulent layer of Newtonian and drag-reducing fluids. J. Fluid Mech. 119, 423441.Google Scholar
Hassager, O. 1979 Negative wake behind bubbles in non-Newtonian liquids. Nature. 279, 402403.Google Scholar
Hermes, R. A. & Fredrickson, A. G. 1967 Flow of viscoelastic fluids past a flat plate. AIChE J. 13, 253259.Google Scholar
Highgate, D. J. 1966 Particle migration in cone-plate viscometry of suspensions. Nature 211, 13901391; and in Polymer Systems: Deformation and Flow (ed. D. J. Highgate & R. W. Whorlow), pp. 251–261, 1968. Macmillan.Google Scholar
Highgate, D. J. & Whorlow, R. W. 1969 End effects and particle migration effects in concentric cylinder rheometry. Rheol. Acta. 8, 142151.Google Scholar
Hu, H. H. & Joseph, D. D. 1990 Numerical simulation of viscoelastic flow past a cylinder. J. Non-Newtonian Fluid Mech. 34, 347377.Google Scholar
James, D. F. 1967 Laminar flow of dilute polymer solutions around circular cylinders. PhD thesis. Cal. Inst. Tech. Pasadena.Google Scholar
James, D. F. & Acosta, A. J. 1970 The laminar flow of dilute polymer solutions around circular cylinders. J. Fluid Mech. 42, 269288.Google Scholar
Joseph, D. D. 1985 Hyperbolic phenomena in the flow of viscoelastic fluids. In Viscoelasticity and Rheology (ed. A. S. Lodge J. Nohel & M. Renardy), pp. 235321. Academic.
Joseph, D. D. 1990 Fluid Dynamics of Viscoelastic Liquids. Springer.
Joseph, D. D. 1992 Bernoulli equation and the competition of elastic and inertial pressures in the potential flow of a second order fluid. J. Non-Newtonian Fluid Mech. 42, 385389.Google Scholar
Joseph, D. D., Arney, M. S., Gillberg, G., Hu, H., Hultman, D., Verdier, C. & Vinagre, T. M. 1992a A spinning drop tensioextensiometer. J. Rheol. 36, 621662.Google Scholar
Joseph, D. D. & Christodoulou, C. 1993 Independent confirmation that delayed die swell in a hyperbolic transition. J. Non-Newtonian Fluid Mech. 48 (to appear.)Google Scholar
Joseph, D. D. & Liao, T. Y. 1993 Viscous and viscoelastic potential flow. In Trends and Perspectives in Applied Mathematics, vol. 100, Applied Mathematical Sciences. Springer.
Joseph, D. D., Matta, J. & Chen, K. 1987 Delayed die swell. J. Non-Newtonian Fluid Mech. 24, 3165.Google Scholar
Joseph, D. D., Narain, A. & Riccius, O. 1986a Shear-wave speeds and elastic moduli for different liquids. Part 1. Theory. J. Fluid Mech. 171, 289308.Google Scholar
Joseph, D. D., Nelson, J., Hu, H. H. & Liu, Y. J. 1992b Competition between inertial pressures and normal stresses in the flow induced anisotropy of solid particles. In Theoretical and Applied Rheology (ed. P. Moldenaers & R. Keunings), pp. 6065. Elsevier.
Joseph, D. D., Riccius, O. & Arney, M. S. 1986b Shear-wave speeds and elastic moduli for different liquids. Part 2. Experiments. J. Fluid Mech. 171, 309338.Google Scholar
Leal, L. G. 1975 The slow motion of a slender rod-like particles in a second-order fluid. J. Fluid Mech. 69, 305337.Google Scholar
Leal, L. G. 1980 Particle motions in a viscous fluid. Ann. Rev. Fluid Mech. 12, 435476.Google Scholar
Liu, Y. J. & Joseph, D. D. 1993 Sedimentation of particles in polymer solutions: experimental data. AHPCRC preprint 93032.
Michele, J., Pätzold, R. & Donis, R. 1977 Alignment and aggregation effects in suspensions of sphere in non-Newtonian media. Rheol. Ada. 16, 317321.Google Scholar
Petit, L. & Noetinger, B. 1988 Shear-induced structure in macroscopic dispersions. Rheol. Acta. 27, 437441.Google Scholar
Roscoe, R. 1965 The steady elongation of elasto-viscous liquids. Brit. J. Appl. Phys. 16, 15671571.Google Scholar
Thompson, W. & Tait, P. G. 1879 Natural Philosophy (2nd edn.) Cambridge University Press.
Ultman, J. S. & Denn, M. M. 1970 Anomalous heat transfer and a wave phenomenon in dilute polymer solutions. Trans. Soc. Rheol. 14, 307317.Google Scholar