A Study of the Mixing Process Under Vertical Vibration with Different Initial Structures

Resonance Acoustic Mixing (RAM) is an efficient mixing technique and holds significant application value in many fields, especially in the mixing of high-viscosity materials. Due to the one-time loading feature, different material structures formed during the feeding process may cause undesired irregularities in the mixing process, which is not conducive to maintaining the mixing consistency between different batches. However, in the analysis of multi-component mixtures, previous studies have often overlooked the impact of the initial material structure. This study delved into the mixing mechanism of RAM in viscous solid–liquid mixtures. By constructing a numerical model based on the Mixture model, simulations of gas–solid–liquid multiphase flows under different initial structures were conducted, and the reliability of the model was verified through experiments. The research results indicate that the mixing processes with different initial structures share similar temporal characteristics of being intense at first and then moderating, but their development trends vary. The mixing time of the structure with the solid on the upper part is shortened by about 10% compared with that of the structure with the solid on the lower part. The double-interface structure exhibits a significantly higher mixing efficiency than the single-interface structure, with the mixing time reduced by up to 41%. This study offers a theoretical basis for optimizing the parameters of resonant acoustic mixing and holds significant reference value for the refined operation of resonant acoustic mixing in the future.