CFD simulation of radially stirred baffled and unbaffled tanks

Stirred tanks typically employed in process industries are provided with baffles. Although the presence of baffles is known to guarantee good mixing rates, unbaffled vessels may be compulsory in some applications as crystallization, bioremediation, biotechnology and ore industry. A better understanding of unbaffled stirred vessels flow dynamics may allow (i) a proper design to be performed and (i) conditions/processes where baffle presence can be avoided to be recognized. In the present study, the k-ω SST was used to simulate an unbaffled tank from early to fully turbulent regime (Re≈600-33,000). The unbaffled tank simulated has a diameter T=0.19m and is stirred by a standard six-bladed Rus…