Flow Field Characterization in a Banbury Mixer

Abstract A fluid dynamics analysis package – FIDAP using the finite element method was implemented to simulate the flow patterns in a Banbury mixer. A number of different geometries were selected to represent the dynamic motion of the rotors during a repeated mixing cycle. The simulation results were then used to characterize the flow field in terms of a parameter quantifying the elongational flow components. The influence of design and processing variables on the flow characteristics as well as on the average shear rate were analyzed.