Simulation disc stirrer with straight blades

The simulation of mixing and stirring in disc stirrers with straight blades can perfectly be performed using NOGRID points  CFD software.

Disc stirrer with straight blades in the chemical industry

This type of disc stirrer, equipped with straight blades, operates at a low rotational speed and functions as a tangentially conveying stirrer, primarily used for low-viscosity media. The container designs often vary in slenderness and bottom shape.  In this case, the disc stirrer has a flat bottom and is not suitable for pressure-resistant stirring processes.

Fluid-dynamic dead zones are avoided thanks to the straight transition between the flat bottom and the cylindrical wall of the container. Containers with low slenderness levels, like the one in this case study, are typically intended for small-volume applications. The disc stirrer has no significant conveying effect, as the contents of the container are mainly moved in a tangential direction. Due to the relatively low rotational speed of the stirrer blades, no vortex is formed here. Instead, a characteristic flow pattern emerges, determined by the agitation speed and the geometry of the container and stirrer blades.

Mixing is a crucial process in the chemical industry and is involved in operations such as the dispersion of two or more liquid, powdery, or gaseous components, deagglomeration to avoid lumps, and the homogenization of mixtures.

Improve product performance and reduce costs

Mixing simulation provides insight into the flow behavior within an agitator, allowing for rapid identification of design and operational improvements. This helps enhance product performance while reducing both production and maintenance costs. 

Compute any conceivable agitator geometry with mixing simulation

NOGRID offers a wide range of rheology models including those commonly used in the chemical industry. With its unique capability to handle moving parts within the fluid domain, NOGRID enables the simulation of any conceivable agitator geometry and operating mode, such as

• rotating and counterwise rotating agitator blades, possibly moving up and down periodically at the same time
• overlapping operation ranges of moving parts as found in twin-screw agitators
• free surfaces at inlets or for different fluid levels or for fast rotating agitators with high centrifugal forces

Benefit of very short computation time

One of the key advantages of NOGRID's meshless CFD software is its rapid preprocessing - no need for grid generation - and its outstanding short computation times, even for complex moving parts typically found in agitators.

Advantages of NOGRID software

NOGRID combines the capability to handle free surface flows and moving parts within the domain, offering the following benefits:

• fully 3D computation solving the complete Navier-Stokes equations
• easy and intuitive setup also for mixing cases
• freely definable material properties by equations or curves
• evaluation of the mixing quality
• open or closed domains including inflow and outflow areas (non-batch mode)
• moving of the mixers in any direction

Whitepaper Mixing Technology