Inflow boundary conditions determine T-mixer efficiency

TL;DR

This study combines experiments and simulations to analyze how inflow boundary conditions affect the efficiency of a T-shaped mixer, revealing that inflow manipulation can significantly reduce energy requirements for effective mixing.

Contribution

It demonstrates that inflow boundary conditions critically influence T-mixer efficiency and shows how adjusting these conditions can greatly reduce power input needed for mixing.

Findings

Excellent agreement between experiments and simulations validates the approach.

Manipulating inflow conditions can reduce power input by a factor of six.

Mixing time is primarily determined by specific power input.

Abstract

We report on a comprehensive experimental-computational study of a simple T-shaped mixer for Reynolds numbers up to $4000$. In the experiments, we determine the mixing time by applying the Villermaux--Dushman characterization to a water-water mixture. In the numerical simulations, we resolve down to the smallest (Kolmogorov) flow scales in space and time. Excellent agreement is obtained between the experimentally measured mixing time and numerically computed intensity of segregation, especially in the turbulent regime, which validates both approaches. We confirm that the mixing time is mainly determined by the specific power input, as assumed in most mixing-models. However, we show that by suitably manipulating the inflow conditions, the power input necessary to achieve a given mixing time can be reduced by a factor of six. Our study enables detailed investigations of the influence of hydrodynamics on chemical reactions and precipitation processes, as well as the detailed testing of turbulence and micromixing models.