J. Non-Newtonian Fluid Mech.

136 (2006) 6475

The ow of non-Newtonian uids down inclines

, A. Bui, M. Rudman I.D. Sutalo
Commonwealth Scientic and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Manufacturing and Infrastructure Technology, PO Box 56, Highett, Vic. 3190, Australia Received 25 October 2004; received in revised form 17 August 2005; accepted 20 February 2006

Abstract Equipment units (e.g. tray column heaters) in many chemical engineering and mineral processing industries involve the ow of non-Newtonian uids down inclined plates. When designing these equipment units the non-Newtonian uid ows often are not fully understood and so the designs are not properly optimised. In this study the ow down a series of inclined plates was experimentally and numerically investigated to better understand the ow for various uids and to validate a computational uid dynamics (CFD) model. In the experimental rig there were a series of consecutive plates inclined at 45 . An optically clear polymer solution was used to simulate a yield pseudo-plastic material and allowed ow visualisation to be undertaken of the ow. The uid lm thickness was observed to decrease down the consecutive plates. Experiments were also carried out using a yield pseudo-plastic mineral slurry and the results were found to be qualitatively similar. An analytical model was developed to calculate the uid lm layer thickness on the rst plate and a CFD model was used to compute the ow down a series of at plates. The CFD model employed a homogeneous multiphase model and surface-sharpening algorithm. The CFD model accurately predicted the uid lm thicknesses and ow patterns. The validated CFD model can now be used with condence as a design tool. 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Inclined plates; Pseudo-plastic; Yield stress; Non-Newtonian

1. Introduction Non-Newtonian ows down inclined plates occur in many equipment units in many chemical engineering and mineral processing industries. There is very little existing literature on modelling of splash column geometry, and most of it is related to tray columns used in the petro-chemical industry for distillation (Fair [1], Porter et al. [2] and Wohlhuter et al. [3]). This work is also relevant to tailings disposal in minerals applications and the way the deposits are laid down. In these columns, the plates (or trays) are generally horizontal, often have perforations and may have seal dams to hold back the liquid on the tray. In Wohlhuter et al. [3] a computational model was presented that allowed calculation of the surface prole of the ow over a simplied horizontal bafe. Flows down inclined planes were numerically investigated in the work by Ruyer-Quil and Manneville [4,5]. They used a simplied model of the ows based on the so-called boundary layer approximation. This approxima-

Corresponding author. Tel.: +61 3 9252 6343; fax: +61 3 9252 6240. E-mail address: Ilija.Sutalo@csiro.au (I.D. Sutalo).

tion allowed most ow variables to be eliminated and yielded a one-equation model governing the effective dynamics of the local lm thickness. In none of the above papers were nonNewtonian uids considered. An asymptotic technique has also been applied to numerically analyze the stability of ows down an inclined plane (see Huang and Khomami [6]). It is worth noting that all the above-mentioned numerical approaches can only provide an approximate solution for the ows over a single plane. When the ow path is more complex with a number of plates present, the full CFD modelling approach is more appropriate. However, CFD modelling of the ows over inclined planes is a difcult task owing to the presence of a free boundary. Only a few studies have experimentally investigated the ow of non-Newtonian uids down inclined plates or planes. Astarita et al. [7] measured the lm thickness of non-Newtonian uids in fully developed laminar ow down inclined plates for a range of ow rates and plate angles. Therien et al. [8] measured the lm thickness for power law uids owing down inclined plates and compared the results with an analytical expression with good agreement. Sylvester et al. [9] compared experimental and predicted lm thicknesses for power law uids owing down a vertical wall in the laminar and wavy fully developed regimes.

0377-0257/$ see front matter 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jnnfm.2006.02.011

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Narayana Murthy and Sarma [10,11] modelled the ow of a power law uid down an inclined plate using integral analysis and included the effect of interfacial drag. Later Tekic et al. [12] included pressure gradient and surface tension. Andersson and Irgens [13] used the integral method to simulate the ow of power law uids down vertical walls. Entrance effects were considered by Andersson and Irgens [13], Tekic et al. [12], Narayana Murthy and Sarma [10]. Paslay and Slibar [14] developed a relationship between lm thickness and ow rate for a Bingham uid down an inclined plane, a similar relationship was developed by Chaturani and Upadhya [15] for a uid with coupled stress. Uhlherr et al. [16] used ow down an inclined plate to determine the yield stress of Bingham uids (two Ultrez 10 solutions and two suspensions). De Kee et al. [17] developed analytic velocity prole and ow rate relationships for viscoplastic uids down inclined plates using the Exponential (DDK), Herschel-Bulkley and Casson uid models. They carried out yield stress measurement experiments on two suspensions: milk of lime and ketchup. They measured lm thickness and ow rate from which they determined the yield stress using the Exponential DDK equation. Andersson and Shang [18] developed a mathematical model of accelerating power law uid ow down an inclined plane. They later included heat transfer from the inclined plate to the uid (Shang and Andersson [19]). Liu and Mei [20,21] studied the slow ow of a Bingham uid on an inclined plane. They developed a simplied mathematical model to describe the ow and compared the results with experiments they carried out with Kaolinite. The comparison was good. Di Federico [22] extended the model to simulate unsteady laminar ow of a Herschel-Bulkley uid down an inclined plate. Piau [23] mathematically modelled the ow of HerschelBulkley and Bingham uids down an inclined plane. Balmforth and Craster [24] developed a thin-layer theory for ow of a Bingham plastic and Herschel-Bulkley uid ow down an inclined plane to eliminate inconsistency seen in earlier studies in the predicted velocity elds. Coussot and Proust [25] and Wilson and Burgess [26] modelled unconned spreading of mudow. Coussot and Proust [25] compared their predictions with experiments carried out with Bingham and Herschel-Bulkley model uids of kaoline. They obtained good results for the uid depth, but overestimated the lateral extent by 30%. The previous approaches did not attempt to employ a full CFD method to model complex non-Newtonian free-surface ow down a series of inclined plates. Most of the previous studies were also not validated experimentally. In this investigation ow visualisation and uid lm layer thickness measurements were undertaken in an experimental model to better understand non-Newtonian ow down a series of inclined plates. CFD simulations were carried out and compared with experimental and analytical work to provide additional insights into the ow characteristics, and provide a validated CFD model that can be used to investigate ow of yield pseudo-plastic materials in more complex geometries than simple inclined plates.

2. Experimental rig In the experimental rig there were a series of four consecutive plates inclined at 45 as shown in Fig. 1. Each inclined plate was 381 mm long. The second and third plates were removable to allow the model to be converted from a four plate to a two plate system. The model was built from acrylic to allow ow visualisation. The model width was 50 mm. The material was pumped using a low shear positive displacement pump (MONO AC12 M) into the dam on the top right of the model where it ows over the weir and down the inclined plates into the underow tank, where it is again pumped back to the top dam. The ow rate was measured using a magnetic ow meter calibrated for each material. The materials used in these experiments were Ultrez 10 solution and mineral slurry. The optically clear Ultrez 10 solution was used to simulate a yield pseudo-plastic material and allowed ow visualisation to be undertaken. The mineral slurry was an industrial yield pseudo-plastic material. The rheologies (i.e.

Fig. 1. Schematic of the inclined plate physical model with a series of four inclined plates. The width of the model is 50 mm (all dimensions are in mm).

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Table 1 Rheology parameters for Ultrez 10 solutions and mineral slurry Material Ultrez 10 solution 0.1 wt.% Ultrez 10 solution 0.15 wt.% Mineral slurry Yield stress, y (Pa) 3.86 4.12 71.3 Consistency, K (Pa sn ) 9.04 13.75 16.6 Flow index, n 0.413 0.412 0.322 Density (kg m3 ) 1000 1000 1320 Static yield stress (Pa) 6.8 19 101

shear stress versus shear rate) of the materials were measured using a Bohlin rheometer CVO50 with cone and plate geometry for the Ultrez 10 solutions and cup and bob geometry for the mineral slurry. The shear stress versus shear rate relationships for the materials was reasonably well described by the HerschelBulkley model curve t: n, = y + K (1)

tion was far more difcult as the model quickly became covered with slurry. An estimate of the later thickness had to be made by studying surface patterns on the face of the model. The accuracy of such measurements is unlikely to be better than 2 mm and may be inuenced by other factors such as slurry on the faces of the model coalescing with the main stream on the plate. For the mineral slurry the velocities were 0.360.95 m s1 which correspond to a Re of 1.59.2. 4. Analytical model The plates in the inclined plate model are modelled as simple inclined rectangular plates. Fig. 2 shows a lm falling down an inclined plate under the inuence of gravity. The lm has a thickness and a width (into the page) of W. Assuming steadystate (i.e., acceleration is nished) a momentum balance on a slice of the lm x allows an expression for the momentum ux distribution and the shear stress to be determined. In the calculations it is assumed that the ow is laminar without rippling (i.e., no entrance and exist disturbances on the length modelled, L). Other relevant parameters are gravity (g) and the angle from the vertical (). In the velocity distribution calculations the lm is separated into two layers. In the top layer (x H) there is plug ow due to the yield stress of the uid and in the bottom layer

the where y is the yield stress (dynamic), K the consistency, shear rate and n is the ow index. The rheological details for two different Ultrez 10 solutions and mineral slurry are presented in Table 1. The static yield stress of these materials were measured using a vane and gave higher values than the dynamic yield stress values. This is due to the different strain histories during the measurements and results from the breakdown and reforming of the structure in the materials. The static value is relevant, for example, in the start-up of a pipeline and the dynamic value is relevant once the uid is moving. It is the dynamic value that is used in the CFD modelling. The errors in the viscosity measurements were less than 1%. The maximum error bars to the ts of the rheology of the high viscosity mineral slurry were up to 4 Pa in the shear stress which corresponds up to 0.4 mm in the predictions from the analytical model detailed in Section 4. 3. Experimental technique For each experiment ow visualisation of the ow in the inclined plate model was carried out using photography and video. The liquid lm thickness over each of the inclined plates were measured with a ruler. A number of experiments were run with Ultrez 10 solutions of 0.1 and 0.15 wt.%. Results for both were similar and usually only those for the 0.15 wt.% are shown here. Generally, three different ow rates were used which were 18.8, 37.3 and 56.5 l min1 . For the 0.15 wt.% Ultrez 10 solution these ow rates correspond to mean velocities of 0.420.98 m s1 and Re of 313 where the Reynolds number is dened as follows: Re = < uz > , B n y + K . (2)

where B is the effective viscosity B = (3)

The uncertainty in the measured lm thickness for the Ultrez 10 solution is approximately 1 mm. The main reason for the uncertainty is a result of the lm thickness that is not uniform across the plate. For the industrial mineral slurry ow visualisa-

Fig. 2. Flow of a viscous non-Newtonian uid lm down an inclined plate under the inuence of gravity.

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the lm has a velocity gradient in the x-direction. As a result of the uid yield stress the lm thickness has to be greater than H for the lm to move. The rheology of the material is described by the HerschelBulkley model shown in Eq. (1). From the momentum balance the momentum ux distribution for the falling lm is: xz = gx cos . (4)

5. Numerical modelling method A CFD model was developed to compute the free-surface ow of a yield pseudo-plastic material, and applied specically to the experimental geometry in order to provide a level of validation. Because it was not possible to experimentally measure the velocity proles in the experiment, the only means of validation available is to compare the position of the free surface prediction to that observed in the experiment. The surface position is related to an integration of the velocity eld in time, so it provides a reasonably rigorous validation, although not as complete or robust as velocity measurements. The simulations were carried out in two dimensions using the commercial CFD software CFX-4.4. The code is based on a semi-implicit numerical solver and is capable of modelling the heat and mass transfer associated with multiphase ows in complex geometries. It uses a block-structured quadrilateral mesh, and details of the software implementation may be found in the user manual [28]. The total number of grid cells was approximately 20,000 and the grid resolution was set higher along the path of liquid propagation and lower at other (air-lled) parts of the domain. In the study described here, the CFX-4 homogeneous multiphase ow model was used to describe the free-surface ow. In this model, the entire domain of the splash column is modelled as a single uid which has a varying density and rheology. The interface position is dened to be the location where the density of the uid changes from the density of gas to that of liquid. This approach is quite common and has been used extensively to reliably model gas/liquid systems (e.g. [29]), and has the advantages that the exact position of the interface does not need to be known a priori. The CFX homogeneous multiphase model does not explicitly track the interface (as in volume-tracking methods, e.g. [30]) but instead uses ux-limited mass advection techniques coupled to a surface sharpening procedure to mitigate numerical diffusion at the free surface. This procedure smooths the true interface across 23 computational cells. The surface tension force is modelled in CFX-4 using the continuum method developed by Brackbill et al. [31]. The CFX-4 user-FORTRAN routines were employed to describe the non-Newtonian properties of the ow, and allowed a smooth switching between the Newtonian viscosity of air to the Herschel-Bulkley rheology of the liquid. Because of a limitation of the CFX-4 software which does not allow simultaneous modelling of non-Newtonian rheology and turbulence, the air ow in the domain was assumed to be laminar. Due to the high viscosity of the liquid phase, any gas-phase turbulence is likely to be unimportant in the liquid phase. The initial conditions are set to be air throughout the domain with zero velocity except at the lower boundary of the inow dam where the material type (density and viscosity) was set to be liquid with a uniform vertical velocity prole chosen to match the volumetric ow rate used in the experiment (normalised by the thickness of the experimental rig). A uniform outow velocity boundary condition was chosen at the base of the domain to exactly match the inow condition and ensured that the total volume was conserved. Simulations were time-stepped from the

When x = H, the stress is just equal to the yield stress and we nd that the minimum lm thickness that will ow is: H= y . g cos (5)

Substitution of the Herschel-Bulkley model equation into the momentum ux distribution equation gives: n = gx cos , y + K (6)

, can be written in terms of the velocity where the shear rate, gradient as = duz . dx (7)

The velocity distribution across the sheared part of the lm is determined by integrating across the lm and using the boundary conditions uz = 0 at x = and xz = y at x = H. After some manipulation we nd that the velocity distribution across the lm is given by uz = K1/n 0xH for the top plug ow layer, and uz = K1/n n (n + 1) (g cos )
(n+1)/n

n (n + 1) (g cos )

g cos y

(n+1)/n

(8)

g cos y H x ,

(n+1)/n

xg cos y

(9)

in the sheared layer near the plate (bottom layer). This expression for uz can be integrated over x to obtain an expression for the volumetric ow rate, Q Q = K1/n W n (n + 1)(g cos )2 g cos y
(n+1)/n

n+1 2n + 1

g cos y + y .

(10)

De Kee et al. [17] have previously also derived the nal equations. However, there was an error in the paper in their derivation of the velocity prole equation in the bottom layer. Coussot [27] also derived the same equations, although they were presented in a form where the effect of K, angle and y were less obvious. In our study the analytical model is extensively used to investigate the effect of different plate angles and rheological properties.

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initial condition and as the dam lled, it overowed and liquid ran down the rst plate, dropping onto the second plate, etc. until reaching the base of the domain where it exited the underow. Ultimately a steady ow solution was obtained that was compared to the experimental results. One modication to the experimental domain was required in the computational model. In the experiments, the ow of uid off the plates usually occurred as a stream with a width less than that of the experimental model. Consequently, there was a continuous pressure pathway between all of the gas spaces in the model (i.e. the gas zones between the plates). In the two-dimensional CFD model, the liquid in effect completely lls this third dimension and there is no continuous pressure pathway between these gas spaces. This can lead to errors in the ow solution. For example, at start-up, the liquid path as it drops off the rst plate will trap a xed quantity of air in the top part of the model. This liquid conguration may not be the steady-state solution but the volume of gas in the top of the model is now set at this initial

Fig. 4. Flow of 0.15 wt.% Ultrez 10 solution in the inclined plate model with four plates at 56.5 l min1 .

Fig. 3. Grid sensitivity study: (a) superimposition of the predicted lm thickness obtained from a ne and a coarse grid. The two lines lay on top of each other for almost the entire prole. Only the ne grid is shown. (b) Close-up of the predicted lm thickness along the plate obtained from a ne and a coarse grid.

Fig. 5. Close-up of ow running off the rst plate and falling onto the second plate. The view is from in front and above. Clearly seen is the heel that is formed upstream (on the left) of the second plate. Also seen is the necking of the Ultrez 10 solution as it ows off the rst plate.

 I.D. Sutalo et al. / J. Non-Newtonian Fluid Mech. 136 (2006) 6475 Table 2 Film layer thickness for 0.15 wt.% Ultrez 10 solution owing at 56.5 l min1 Analytical model Experimental Plate 1 Distance from plate tip (mm) Film thickness (mm) 19.2 100 19.520 Plate 1 200 19.520 Plate 2 100 17.519.5 Plate 3

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100 17.018.5

incorrect value. However, volume conservation ensures that this incorrect conguration cannot change unless the excess gas has a chance to break through the liquid stream. If it cannot do this, then the liquid conguration will remain physically incorrect. To ameliorate this issue, channels were placed through the plates at their junctions with the walls of the model, and this allowed a continuous pressure pathway between

all of the gas spaces without adversely affecting the liquid ow. 5.1. Grid resolution study One of the key issues in all computational uid dynamics modelling is the effect of grid resolution on the solution. Grid

Fig. 6. Flow of 0.15 wt.% Ultrez 10 solution in the inclined plate model with two plates at 56.5 l min1 . On the left is the front view and on the right is a close-up side view of the jet hitting the bottom plate. Clearly seen is the reduced size of the uid jet that has a width of approximately one third of the width of the model.

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resolution was considered here using a simplied domain consisting of just one plate, and several simulations were run to determine an acceptable resolution at which to undertake the full computations. Local grid renement was applied with the nest grid elements located near the top surface of the plate. The cell sizes in the ne grid case are approximately half the size of that in the course grid case. In the ne grid, the smallest thickness of the grid elements was approximately 1.2 mm. In the course grid, the smallest thickness of the elements was about 2 mm. Both the grids had 52 grid elements along the length of the plate (i.e., grid element lengths were 0.019L). The comparison of the liquid layer thicknesses obtained on ne and coarse grids is shown in Fig. 3a and b. The predictions from the two grid resolutions coincide well which indicates little grid sensitivity for the two chosen grid resolutions. The difference between ne and coarse grid results was in the range 04% in the middle section of the plate. At the beginning and the end of the plate, the maximum difference in lm thickness is 6%. In the following sections, the ne grid was used in a numerical parametric study while the coarser grid was used in the larger domain modelling. 6. Results and discussion 6.1. Experimental modelling of Ultrez 10 solution ow down inclined plates Flow visualisation images of the ow of 0.15 wt.% Ultrez 10 solution at a ow rate of 56.5 l min1 down a series of four inclined plates are shown in Figs. 4 and 5. The ows for the two lower ow rates are similar, with the horizontal distance the stream reaches being further with higher ow rate. The ow of Ultrez 10 solution is quite steady except for some small variation resulting from the pump and occasional entrainment of air bubbles. The lm layer thickness on each plate is measured 100 mm from the end of the plate (as well as 200 mm from the end on Plate 1) and results are compared to the analytical model predictions using Eq. (10). As can be seen in Tables 2 and 3, the results compare fairly well on the rst plate, and become progressively worse on subsequent plates. Note that the plate has to be long enough to ensure equilibrium, non-acceleration state is reached without entrance and exit effects. As stated earlier, the lm shape is not uniform across the plates. This is particularly true on the second and subsequent plates on which the lm shape is inuenced signicantly by the fall from the plate above. Instead of owing off the plate as a uniform lm across the entire width of the model, the uid lm necks (i.e. forms a thinner jet) most probably because of
Table 3 Predicted and experimentally measured lm thicknesses for 0.15 wt.% Ultrez 10 solution at 56.5 l min1 at 100 mm from the end of the plate Plate 1 Experimental (mm) CFD numerical (mm) Analytical model (mm) 19.520 21 19.2 Plate 2 17.519.5 18.1 Plate 3 1718.5 17.1 Fig. 7. Flow of the mineral slurry in the inclined plate model with four plates at 58 l min1 .

the combined effects of acceleration and surface tension. Fig. 5 shows the curved nature of the lm as it hits the plate below. This curvature is a result of the ow in the edges of the lm moving slower than that in the middle (because of side wall friction) and hence not travelling as far horizontally. The lm thickness for 0.1 wt.% Ultrez 10 solution at a ow rate of 56.5 l min1 measured on the rst plate was 14.515 mm which compares well to the lm thickness value of 15.4 mm determined by the analytical model. The reduced lm thickness on the second and subsequent plates is probably a result of the increased energy (caused by

Fig. 8. Close-up of the mineral slurry ow running off the second plate and falling onto the third plate.

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Fig. 9. Numerical predictions of the ow in an inclined plate model.

acceleration of the ow free fall between the plates) that the Ultrez 10 has on impact that must be dissipated by viscous dissipation. It is worth noting that the path of the ow on the subsequent plates may not be long enough so that the lm thickness can be stabilised and the entrance effect can be completely eliminated. There is no indication of turbulence or any signicant unsteadiness, thus the dissipation can only occur as a result of increased shear which in turn reduces the viscosity, and hence lm thickness.

Also undertaken in the physical model was the removal of the middle two plates to allow a longer fall distance for the Ultrez 10 as it came off the rst plate as shown in Fig. 6. The lm thickness on the bottom plate is 15.5 mm, which is less again than that measured in the four plate model. The additional fall height allows 3D effects to occur. In this case, the necking observed previously also plays a signicant role, with the jet becoming even smaller in cross-section than previously, with a width of approximately one third of the model width. This is expected because the uid is falling further, moving more rapidly and in order to maintain the same volumetric ow rate, its cross-section must reduce. As the ow rate was increased from 18.8 to 56.5 l min1 the impinging point increased from being approximately 210 mm down the plate from the far side wall to approximately 40 mm down the plate from the far side wall. 6.2. Experimental modelling of mineral slurry ow down inclined plates For the mineral slurry at the highest ow rate of 58 l min1 in the 4-plate model the ow sheet almost completely lled the model width after Plate 1, while after Plates 2 and 3 it completely

Fig. 10. Comparison of the lm thickness predicted using the analytical and numerical models for varying (a) y , (b) K, (c) n and (d) angle.

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lled the model width (refer to Fig. 7). There was also more splashing at the high ow rate compared to the low ow rates. The stream leaving the plates was fairly steady in the case of four 45 plates since the stream leaving a plate hit the next plate before it had a chance to start moving from side to side. Fig. 8 shows that the stream leaving the second plate completely lls the model width and that a heel forms upstream (on the right) of the third plate. At the low ow rate of 18.8 l min1 there was necking and the slurry sometimes had free surface ripple patterns owing along the plate. These patterns remained during the transit along the rst plate and are indicative of a lack of shearing at the free surface due to the low ow rate and high yield stress i.e. the slurry was effectively solid in a small surface region. Also, roll waves described by Coussot [32] may cause the surface disturbances. 6.3. Computational uid dynamics (CFD) modelling 6.3.1. Numerical modelling of start-up of ow down inclined plates The CFD modelling of the ows under investigation is complicated owing to the presence of free surfaces and associated steep changes of uid properties across these interfaces. In addi-

tion to numerical oscillations caused by property jumps at the gasliquid interfaces, the sharpness of the interfaces is difcult to maintain using low-order discretisation schemes and/or low computational grid resolution. For the ows under consideration, non-Newtonian characteristics of the ows may also cause further difculties in the modelling as numerical convergence and correct choice of non-Newtonian ow model/parameters become more difcult. However, a simulation test (see Fig. 9) shows the two-dimensional (2D) CFD model can satisfactorily predict the behaviour of the liquid lm propagating along the inclined plates with very little numerical diffusion at the liquidgas surface. 6.3.2. Comparison of analytical and numerical solutions for non-Newtonian ows of different properties and under different conditions Fig. 10 shows the effect on lm thickness of varying y , K, n and plate angle. The plate angle was dened as 90 . There was very good agreement between the analytical and numerical model predictions (usually less than 4% difference) for realistic rheology conditions. In the analytical model the typical values of the rheology parameters used in the Herschel-Bulkley model curve were set at y = 5 Pa, K = 15 Pa sn , n = 0.4. The ow rate was set to 60 l min1 . The lm thickness increased for increasing

Fig. 11. Comparison of the lm thickness predicted using the analytical and numerical models for various angles and for varying (a) y , (b) K, (c) n and (d) ow rate.

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Fig. 12. Comparison between the numerical predictions and experimental results of the 0.15 wt.% Ultrez 10 solution owing at 56.5 l min1 in the inclined plate model with four plates. The black contour lines represent the free surface prole as predicted by the numerical model, on the right side the predicted free surface prole is superimposed on the experimental results.

y , K, and n, and decreasing plate angle. In the investigation, various angles between 1 and 90 were investigated when the following variables were varied: y = 5100 Pa, K = 1030 Pa sn , n = 0.30.7, and ow rate from 20 to 60 l min1 . Fig. 11 shows the effect on the lm thickness of changing the rheology and for different angles. As expected increasing y , K, n and ow rate increases the lm thickness; the increases in lm thickness were larger for smaller plate angles. For angles less than 30 the lm thickness increases signicantly when the plate angle is decreased compared to an equivalent reduction in plate angle at higher plate angles. What is interesting is that doubling the ow rate only causes a relatively small change in the lm thickness. 6.3.3. Simulation of the Ultrez 10 solution ow in the inclined plate physical model The CFD model was used to simulate the ow of the 0.15 wt.% Ultrez 10 solution in the inclined plate model geometry with four plates at 45 and the results are presented in Fig. 12. The black contour lines represent the predicted free surface. As seen in Fig. 12 the agreement between CFD predictions and experimental results is quite good. The predicted angle that the jet falls off the second plate is not in as good agreement with the experimental results as the jet angle coming off the rst plate. It is believed that the primary reason for this difference is that in the 2D CFD model, the gas space between the rst and second plates (on the right of the jet) cannot communicate with the gas spaces on the left. Thus, if the jet tries to wobble, it will create either an overpressure or vacuum that will force it back to the shape it has in the image. In the experiment, the surface tension was found to narrow and round the jet during its free-fall between the

Fig. 13. Numerical predictions of velocity eld in the inclined plate model.

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Fig. 14. Comparison between the numerical predictions and experimental results of the mineral slurry owing at 58 l min1 in the inclined plate model with four plates. The black contour lines represent the free surface prole as predicted by the numerical model, on the right side the predicted free surface prole is superimposed on the experimental results.

plates and jet did not fully ll the space between front and back plates of the model. As a result, air can move freely between the left and right side of the jet. Therefore, this problem is expected to be eliminated by carrying out three-dimensional (3D) CFD modelling. The experimental and predicted lm thicknesses are presented in Table 3 and the agreement is very good considering that the CFD model is strictly two-dimensional, whereas the experiment has some noticeable three-dimensional effects. The CFD prediction indicates that the ow is not strictly the same when moving from one plate to another. The thickness of the uid layer is highest at the top plate and the decrease of the uid layer thickness can be seen in the subsequent plates. This reduction of the uid layer thickness is possibly caused by the acceleration of the uid during its free falling between the plates. The uid acceleration is also seen to give rise to signicant variation of the uid layer thickness along the second and third plates as the uid layer is thinnest at the higher ends of the plates (near the jet impingement place) and gradually recovers to a higher thickness at the other ends of the plates. As the length of the plates is relatively short, the uid layer on the second and third plates may never be able to restore to its stabilised thickness which is predicted by the analytical model above. As can be seen from Table 3, this reduction of the uid layer thickness is also captured by experimental measurements, but to a lesser extent. Fig. 13 shows the velocity eld in the model. Acceleration of the air is observed near the edges of the plates. The ow inside the uid layer is mostly invariable along the plates except for the plate top ends, resulting in a mostly constant thickness of

the uid layer. The heels behind the waterfalls are stationary. The lack of ow inside the heels is noticeable and the heels are kept steady in time by the balance of buoyancy force and pressure increase resulted from the impact of the ow on the plate. 6.3.4. Simulation of the mineral slurry ow in the inclined plate physical model In Fig. 14 the predicted ow of mineral slurry in the four plate model is compared to the experimental results. In this case the numerical convergence of the model was extremely slow, but the higher grid resolution and increased ow rate resulted in a physically more accurate simulation result. The experimental results for this case were not as easy to measure as the model very quickly became covered in slurry. The predicted and experimentally measured slurry layer thicknesses are compared in Table 4. The agreement between the CFD and analytical predictions and experimental measured data on the rst plate is reasonably good. However the CFD model underpredicts the lm thickness on subsequent plates, where the experimental
Table 4 Predicted and experimentally measured lm thicknesses for mineral slurry at 58 l min1 at 100 mm from the end of the plate Plate 1 Experimental (mm) CFD numerical (mm) Analytical model (mm) 2021 20 19.9 Plate 2 2122 17.5 Plate 3 2223 16

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measurement suggested larger layer thicknesses. The errors were larger in the mineral slurry experiments due to the opacity of the slurry and due to splash making measurements of the lm thickness signicantly less accurate. 7. Conclusions The ow of yield pseudo-plastic materials down inclined plates have been investigated experimentally, analytically and numerically. The present study showed that the analytical model accurately predicted the lm thickness on the rst plate, but was less accurate on subsequent plates. As a design tool the analytical model provides a good rst estimate of the lm thickness on the rst plate. It can also be used to test the effect of varying various slurry properties and operating conditions on the lm thickness. The impinging point from the inclined plate was further at higher ow rates. When the four inclined plate system was converted to the two plate system the larger fall distance caused further necking of the jet leaving the plate and the lm thickness was lower on the second plate. As far as the authors are aware this is the rst time an attempt to employ the full CFD method to model complex non-Newtonian free-surface ow down a series of inclined plates has been made. The use of the CFD method provides additional insights into the ow under investigation where the complex ow path and transient nature of the ow may restrict the applicability of an analytical model. The uid layer thickness predicted using the CFD model was in reasonably good agreement with the experimental results especially on the rst plate. The CFD predictions also indicate the reduction of uid layer thickness on subsequent plates which can be partly explained by the acceleration of the uid during its free falling from one plate to another. References
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