SIMULATION OF SUSPENSIONS SEDIMENTATION INTO VESSELS AND THROUGH-FLOWING DEVICES

The two novel models of sedimentation of polydisperse suspensions have been submitted. The first model has been developed for the sedimentation of a polydisperse suspension in a vessel. This model is a development of the general model developed in the authors previous works, based on a continuous distribution function. Use a continuous function of particle size distribution of the dispersed phase allows us to buid the model in the form of a diffusion-type equation with source terms. The second model is devoted to describing the process of sedimentation of a polydisperse suspension in a flow-through systems. A concept has been developed for calculating the distribution of the dispersed phase in the flow leaving the apparatus based on a pricipally new methodology of boundary deposition curves. The developed models make it possible to calculate the evolution of the position of the sedimentation front and the sediment surface both along the height of the vessel and along longitudinal coordinate of the through-flowing apparatuses. An expressions and computer code for calculating the evolution of the sedimentation fronts have been developed, that is of importance for calculating the kinetics of sedimentation of polydisperse suspensions.