Turbulence measurements in fiber suspension flows : experimental methods and results

• Main Author: Fällman, Monika Carina
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: KTH, Mekanik 2009
• Subjects: fluid; flow; turbulent; turbulence; paper; pulp; fiber; fibre; suspension; two-phase; experimental; conductivity; micro-probes; passive scalar; ultrasonic; Doppler shift; Fluid Mechanics and Acoustics; Strömningsmekanik och akustik
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-11460; http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:isbn:978-91-7415-458-0

Turbulent mixing is present in many pulp and paper processes. It is a particularly important factor in the design and improvements of the paper machine headbox, influencing the final paper structure. During this project, experimental methods to quantify the effect of fibers on turbulent suspension flows have been developed, and then used for studying turbulent mixing in fiber suspensions. A technique that uses microprobes to measure passive scalar mixing of salt for the characterization of turbulent fluctuations in a fiber suspension flow has been developed: Conductivity micro-probes have been built and turbulence measurements have been performed in simple jet and wake flows, studying turbulent mixing between the two streams of pulp suspension, of which one has been doped with salt. A relatively new technique to measure fluid velocity non-intrusively in opaque fluids has also been tested. The technique makes use of ultrasonic pulses to obtain velocity information through the Doppler-shift of reflected pulses. The main efforts reported on in the thesis are focused on method design and development as well as method evaluation.