MIXING QUANTIFICATION BY VISUAL IMAGING ANALYSIS

This paper reports on development of a method for quantifying two measures of mixing, the scale and intensity of segregation, through flow visualization, video recording, and software analysis. This non-intrusive method analyzes a planar cross section of a flowing system from an instantaneous data record, thereby eliminating the need for statistical analysis of a large number of point measurements at multiple locations throughout the system to characterize the mixing. The method is applied to a cold flow model of a high temperature, gas/solid reactor so that reactor design and operation can be optimized to promote reaction efficiency. This method may be useful for studying a variety of mixing systems in which multiphase components or tracers are visually distinguishable.